GLAMORGAN DENIED A RECORD FIRST-CLASS RUN CHASE BY GLOUCESTERSHIRE AS LAST MAN JAMIE MCILROY IS DISMISSED FROM THE FINAL DELIVERY OF THE MATCH - WITH BOTH SIDES SETTLING FOR A DRAMATIC TIE
- Gloucestershire sealed a dramatic late tie against Glamorgan on Wednesday
- The Welsh side were denied a record run chase after being set a 593 target
- Jamie McIlroy was dramatically dismissed off the final ball of the match
Glamorgan were denied a world record first-class chase in the most dramatic of circumstances when last man Jamie McIlroy was dismissed from the final delivery of the game against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.
Set what appeared a notional 593-run target at Cheltenham, the Welsh county somehow drew the scores level with one ball remaining, but ex-England wicketkeeper James Bracey spectacularly soared to his right to take a one-handed catch from McIlroy's flash at Ajeet Singh Dale.
Bracey wheeled away in celebration at 6.55pm, as both sides received eight points for the tied match.
However, Glamorgan’s 592 all out was the third highest fourth innings score in history and comfortably the biggest on British soil, surpassing the 507 for seven that Cambridge University managed to beat MCC at Lord’s way back in 1896.
Prospects of an away win, on the back of hundreds from captain Sam Northeast and Australian Test star Marnus Labuschagne, appeared to have disappeared when the equation became 20 off 15 deliveries, but no 9 Mason Crane struck three successive boundaries off Dale.
Then, McIlroy - who earlier survived a vociferous caught behind appeal while still on nought - leg glanced the final delivery of the penultimate over sent down by Beau Webster.
And he was back at the business end for the money ball as Glamorgan failed by the narrowest of margins to oust West Zone’s chase of 536 to defeat South Zone in Hyderabad in the 2010 Duleep Trophy final from top spot.
Glamorgan began the final morning on 222 for three - still 371 runs shy of an improbable 16-point haul — with Northeast and Labuschagne at the crease.
But a match that began with 17 wickets tumbling on the first day was stretched out to its maximum courtesy of some brilliant application from the visitors.
The previous highest fourth-innings score in County Championship cricket was 502 by Middlesex against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 1925.
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