Glamorgan v Derbyshire day 2

Derbyshire 288 and 2-0

Glamorgan 237 (Palladino 4-36 Mendis 3-68)

Derbyshire lead by 53 runs

I was fortunate to be able to watch most of today's absorbing cricket and it was a very rewarding experience.

For starters, Derbyshire ended it in a position of some strength. 53 runs ahead with ten wickets in hand, on a wicket where the ball is already turning, if the rain stays out of it our hosts won't fancy chasing much over 250 on the last day.

The Derbyshire attack was the most varied I have seen in some time. That's not to say it was the best, because there were times when line and length deserted some of them, Tom Milnes the main offender, but with two right-arm seamers, a left-armer, a leggie and an off-spinner, there was enough to keep the batsmen on their toes.

The latter was another rewarding aspect of the day. I'm not going to suggest, on one bowling performance, that Hamidullah Qadri is the finished article - how could he be, at 16? But on today's evidence he is a young man of fantastic potential.

My recollection is that he went for only one four in his fifteen overs, which were bowled with remarkable composure and accuracy, even when the opposition tried to use their feet to him. He braces himself nicely on his front foot and varied his pace beautifully. What I especially liked was the first ball leaf he took out of the Shane Warne spin bowling manual, ripping it and turning it sharply past the surprised batsman.

As soon as a batsman sees a ball do that, the seeds of doubt are sown in his mind and he knows that the bowler has it in his armory. The beauty is that he doesn't really need to do it again, because, as Wilfred Rhodes used to say, you only need to turn it enough to miss the middle of the bat, as long as line and length are right.

He should enjoy tonight, having, in the words of Tony Palladino, 'bowled like John Emburey today'. The Middlesex and England man kept it tight when conditions were not totally in his favour, then capitalised when they were. Time will tell if a young man can be expected to do that, but he tied up an end quite splendidly.

There will be days, in what I suspect will be a long and successful career ahead, when things don't go his way, when the batsmen are seeing it like a football and his best balls still go for boundaries.

But by crikey, the lad bowled well today. As did Luis Reece and Tom Taylor, who kept the pressure on at the other end. Jeevan Mendis mixed some good balls with a few too many that were down leg and could either be worked away or challenge the footwork of Daryn Smit.

Qadri aside, the star turn was Tony Palladino. His role of bowling coach requires the setting of examples on the pitch and he gave another exemplary display today.

16.4-5-36-4. They were his figures and, in my mind's eye, just as Cliff and Les used to do with younger bowlers in their pomp, I can see him looking at Hamidullah's figures tonight, putting an arm around his shoulder and saying 'Fifteen overs, eight maidens, one for sixteen. You'll do me, lad'.

As well he will do all of us.

I reckon we have found a good 'un in young Qadri.

And two more professional days could see a first championship win of the summer.