Yorkshire CCC held to a draw by Glamorgan in Cardiff

Nestled beside the River Taff, and surrounded by banks of luscious trees, there is an arboreal aspect to the Cardiff venue magnified on sun-kissed days like this.

It is the sort of ground where one could quite happily sit for a couple of hours and watch nothing, just drink in the pleasant if not quite out-and-out picturesque scene.

For picturesque, all one has to do is stroll out of the main gates and walk through the adjoining Bute Park, through which the River Taff runs on its way through the city and into Cardiff Bay, a delightful spot favoured by joggers, dog-walkers and those sneaking a lunchtime sandwich before returning to the office.

On a day when Caerphilly Mountain stood clear in the distance, not really visible from ground level but certainly from high up at the Cathedral Road end of the cricket stadium, this match took its place in the annals of obscurity.

It was almost as though Yorkshire gave up on anything productive happening as soon as they took to the field - not gave up in terms of effort or commitment, which was always present, but in terms of any real belief that they could make a great deal happen on a soporific pitch.

The day was less than an hour old, in fact, when Jonny Tattersall was asked to take off his wicketkeeping paraphernalia and purvey some lesser-spotted leg-spin from the River Taff end, while Fin Bean deputised behind the stumps.

Tattersall, who had bowled only six overs in his whole career, sent down another four before the experiment was abandoned, one which rather said it all.

Why Yorkshire did not at least start the day with Ben Coad, however, was a mystery.

Flat pitch or not, surely a couple of overs from their best bowler first up was worth a go? Or what about a few from all-rounder George Hill?

Yorkshire’s tactics in this game were interesting at times, ones rendered odder in this case by the fact that Glamorgan started day four by no means out of the Bute Park woods on 120-2 in their second innings, still 107 runs behind.

By the time hands were shaken, that score had risen to 401-5, Sam Northeast finishing unbeaten on 166 from 296 balls with 17 fours, a splendid innings.

This draw, Yorkshire’s eighth in 12 games this season, left them stuck to the foot of Division Two with two games left.

They head to Leicester next week before finishing off the following week against Worcestershire at Headingley.

The best weather of the match greeted the players when they arrived at Sophia Gardens on Wednesday, after rain delays on each of the first three days.

A lone Yorkshire flag could be seen draped over an advertising board at the River Taff end opposite the media centre and seemed to advertise (the eyes aren’t what they used to be, tha knows) the ‘Dartford Kent branch’ of Yorkshire CCC. Never ‘eard of it, to be honest.

Eddie Byrom (52) and Northeast (45) were the not out batsmen, their third-wicket stand worth 90, and Byrom cut Jordan Thompson’s first ball of the day to the boundary. No sooner had it crossed the rope than a hobbling Thompson clutched his left ankle in apparent discomfort; it has been a familiar sight all season, the wonder/curiosity of it being that Thompson invariably recovers to bowl his next ball.

Dom Bess began from the opposite end, the river at his back, and a nice stroke by Northeast through the covers off the spinner brought him his half-century. Thereafter, Yorkshire rang the changes and field placings but to no avail until half-an-hour before lunch, Bryom bowled playing a premeditated sweep at Bess moments after the opener had gone through to his sixth first-class hundred from 192 balls.

By lunch, Glamorgan were in front, and soon after the interval Northeast went to his 29th first-class century from 198 balls with an offside boundary off Adam Lyth. Northeast had very nearly fallen in freakish style on 94, hammering a full-blooded cover-drive off Bess straight at close-in fielder James Wharton, the ball ricocheting off the fielder’s foot as he took evasive action and back on the full towards the bowler, who made a valiant effort to take it, diving to his left.

After sharing 178 with Byrom, Northeast added 97 for the fourth-wicket with Kiran Carlson, who made a fine 52, in the process becoming the fourth man in Division Two after Alex Lees, Rishi Patel and Leus du Plooy to pass 1,000 runs this season.

Carlson fell one ball after reaching his fifty, strangled down the leg-side off debutant pace bowler Ben Cliff, whose maiden first-class wicket it was. Not to be outdone, Wharton also took his maiden first-class wicket in the dying minutes, bowling Billy Root with a lovely off-break – a memorable moment on a largely forgettable day.