By Andrew Radd at Northampton
Glamorgan (204-2) lead Northants (172) by 32 runs
GLAMORGAN thoroughly enjoyed their first day of championship cricket this month, bowling and batting themselves into a dominant position from which they should proceed to a fourth successive victory over Northamptonshire.
Despite rival claims from several of his colleagues - not least Steve James who followed two centuries in last season's meeting at Abergavenny with an unbeaten 123, featuring 22 fours - the champions' acting captain, Tony Cottey, performed the most significant role by calling correctly at the toss.
His bowlers took full advantage of overcast conditions and reduced Northants to 45 for five in the 17th over with Waqar Younis, in his first championship match of the summer, accounting for Alec Swann and Rob Bailey.
Northants rallied either side of lunch through Kevin Curran and David Ripley, whose sixth-wicket partnership was worth 90 in 21 overs.
After Curran drove Adrian Dale to short extra cover, the departure of Ripley to Steve Watkin for 59 triggered a collapse in which the last four wickets tumbled to Watkin and Gary Butcher for seven runs in 16 balls.
James dominated Glamorgan's reply, adding 144 in 28 overs with Dale after Alun Evans had felt the full force of Devon Malcolm's frustration at having a forceful appeal for leg-before turned down the ball previously.
West Indian Franklyn Rose was hit for five fours in an over as James galloped from fifty to his century in 34 deliveries and though Malcolm breached Dale's defences, Glamorgan needed only 36 overs to take the lead.
Day 2: James' plunder states his case
By Andrew Radd at Northampton
Second day of four: Glamorgan (563) lead Northants (172) by 391 runs
STEVE James may be correct in his assertion that several batsmen are ahead of him in the queue for England top order places this summer, but his stirring 227 at Wantage Road yesterday demonstrated an appetite for big scores which could yet earn him the promotion many feel he deserves.
He struck 36 fours and faced 312 balls in a stay of 6.25 hours, falling one run short of Roy Fredericks' highest knock by a Glamorgan player against Northamptonshire.
The champions were further boosted by hundreds from Michael Powell and Tony Cottey and secured a daunting lead of 391, although bad light then denied them the opportunity to make inroads in Northants' second innings.
James and Powell savaged the home attack during the morning session, carrying their third-wicket partnership to 186 in 38 overs with the aid of some execrable bowling - sometimes too full, more often too short - from Devon Malcolm and Franklyn Rose.
Both had spent time before the start working on a neighbouring strip under the supervision of chief coach John Emburey. Sadly, this line-and-length lesson was forgotten all too quickly.
Malcolm had Powell dropped twice, on seven and 27, and the young man from Abergavenny completed a maiden championship century on only his fourth appearance, the second fifty made from just 32 balls.
The gentle medium pace of David Sales accounted for Powell but James pressed on to within sight of his career-best 235, until edging an attempted cut at Graeme Swann to the wicketkeeper.
James acknowledges that weight of runs on the county circuit is not necessarily a passport into the national side. He said: ``I don't think there's too much chance at the moment. I didn't do enough on the A tour during the winter so I need to do a lot now to get into the frame.''
Cottey, bustling and busy, compounded Northants' misery and was last out for 113.
Day 3: Loye back in groove to halt Glamorgan
By Andrew Radd at Northampton
Third day of four: Northamtonshire v Glamorgan
MAL LOYE has been waiting for a while to see the sunshine again on his side of the fence. Injuries and crises of confidence have combined to frustrate the richly talented Northamptonian, who toured South Africa successfully with England A five winters ago.
He remains, though, a batsman worth paying good money to watch, and demonstrated the fact with a century of conspicuous quality to hold up Glamorgan's push for victory at Wantage Road yesterday.
Reaching three figures in the championship for the first time since Northants' final match of 1996, when he took a career-best 205 off Yorkshire's attack and shared a 372-run opening partnership with Richard Montgomerie, Loye struck 23 boundaries in an unbeaten 137 as the home side - 391 adrift on first innings - battled to 258 for four at tea.
Loye, 25, deserves all the breaks - of the kind that do not require a visit to Northampton General Hospital's casualty department - that come his way after a succession of fitness problems which might have left the most phlegmatic individual wondering what wrong- doings he had perpetrated in a previous life.
He seemed to slump to new depths of despair last July when Essex visited Northampton. Rediscovering his touch in the course of a fluent knock of 43, he suddenly sank to his knees with a back injury and had to be helped from the field.
Loye flew south to Perth for the winter with the dual aims of regaining full fitness and rekindling his enjoyment of the game in Western Australian club cricket. On this evidence, not least the three glorious drives which carried him from 89 to 101, the trip did the trick.
Loye arrived in the third over of the morning to replace the out-of-sorts Alec Swann, trapped in front shuffling across to Waqar Younis. In the next over, Montgomerie departed in similar fashion to Steve Watkin, and at 15 for two a mid-afternoon finish was being confidently anticipated.
David Sales, a young man of whom much is expected by both Northants and England, flattered to deceive yet again, hitting four fours in a promising 22 before chipping a catch to mid-wicket.
Kevin Curran helped Loye add a further 70 until Waqar gained another leg-before verdict to dismiss the Northants captain just after lunch. David Ripley then joined Loye in prolonging Northants' resistance with a century stand for the fifth wicket.
Day 4: Loye heroics send records tumbling
By Andrew Radd at Northampton
Northamptonshire (172 & 712) drew with Glamorgan (563 & 44-0)
EVERYBODY loves a local-boy-made-good story, and Northampton-born Mal Loye gave the supporters at Wantage Road ample cause to celebrate yesterday with an unbeaten 322 which should keep the statisticians gainfully occupied for the foreseeable future.
The 25-year-old occupied the crease for 12 minutes short of 11 hours, hitting 49 fours in 534 balls and improving on Northants' previous highest individual innings in first-class cricket, Raman Subba Row's 300 against Surrey at the Oval in 1958.
Loye's epic partnership of 401 with David Ripley, who completed a maiden double century, was not only the club's biggest for any wicket, but also a new fifth-wicket best in England, exceeding the 393 posted by Worcestershire's Ted Arnold and William Burns at Edgbaston 89 years ago.
These heroics enabled Northants to draw a match which they looked set to not only lose at 142 for four early on Saturday afternoon, but lose heavily.
Loye admitted to being ``pretty overwhelmed'' as he downed his first glass of champagne. ``The first thing was to make sure that the side avoided defeat, but when the record came it was good to do it at home with my dad and friends watching.''
The first task for Loye and Ripley to address yesterday was negotiating the new ball which became available after two overs. They did so, although Loye gave his first palpable chance on 227 when a fierce slash at Waqar Younis flew to backward point where Gary Butcher failed to hold what would have been a remarkable catch.
The cheer that greeted Ripley's 200 was testimony to his popularity at Northampton. Now in his 15th season with the club he has always found time for the followers, and can now expect to be called upon to relive this innings frequently in the coming weeks and months.
The Yorkshireman pulled Tony Cottey's off-spin into the West Stand for six to carry the partnership past 400 in 92 overs, but two balls later he edged to slip and departed after a 5.5-hour stay which featured a seven, a six and 34 fours.
After lunch Loye, closing in on Subba Row's record, was faced with a fresh challenge. Glamorgan struck three times in four overs and a lead of 193 with only two wickets standing rekindled the visitors' hopes of snatching a victory.
They were killed off, however, by Rob Bailey whose appearance had been delayed by a troublesome back. With Kevin Curran as his runner he seconded Loye's membership of the 300 Club, entry being officially approved with a cut for four off Steve Watkin.
Those who opted for cricket rather than football - Northampton Town were playing Grimsby in the Division Two play-off final at Wembley which they subsequently lost - were thus rewarded with a notable moment in Northants history.