England spinner Monty Panesar made a crucial breakthrough for Northamptonshire after a batting collapse had put Glamorgan on top in the LV= County Championship Division Two match at Wantage Road.

Ashes-winner Panesar took the wicket of Herschelle Gibbs late in the day, with Glamorgan cruising at 137 for two after the visitors had earlier swept up the Northants tail.

Andrew Hall fell short of his century for Northants, departing for 89 when he was trapped lbw by Jim Allenby in the morning session - while Northants opener Stephen Peters (163) also fell short of a career-best score.

It soon went from bad to worse for Northants as they crumbled from 289 for four to 350 all out, but Hall and David Lucas made early breakthroughs into the Glamorgan attack before Panesar’s strike, to leave the visitors 149 for three at the close.

Former South Africa all-rounder Hall was quickly into his stride, driving and pulling half a dozen early boundaries as Glamorgan’s seamers struggled for consistency.

But Allenby finally broke through after an hour’s play, trapping Hall lbw and just short of a deserved hundred.

Desperate to stem the flow of runs, visiting skipper Jamie Dalrymple then turned to spin at both ends, and was quickly rewarded when centurion Peters top-edged a sweep off Robert Croft to short fine-leg for 163.

Northants’ batting frailties were soon exposed as Panesar – batting in the unfamiliar position of number eight - was quickly back in the dressing room for a five-ball duck bowled lbw to Croft.

When David Willey followed in the next over, Croft had taken three wickets in ten scoreless deliveries.

After lunch, Northants’ last two batsmen - Lucas and David Wigley - scrambled them to a fourth batting point against the new ball, before falling to James Harris.

Clear skies saw the home attack generate little swing early on in the Glamorgan response, and the pitch also produced few early problems despite its good covering of grass.

Accurate spells from seamers Lucas, Jack Brooks and Wigley did at least force a cautious start from Glamorgan’s left-handed opening pair, as Will Bragg and Gareth Rees took 20 overs to bring up the half-century.

Much to skipper Nicky Boje’s delight his attack produced a double-strike soon after tea.

First Hall despatched Rees (31), plumb lbw to a full-length delivery, before Bragg (28) miscued an attempted pull to square leg in Lucas’ next over.

Gibbs looked in superb form clipping his first delivery to the square leg fence, the first of seven fours in a rapid 42.

He added 60 with a more circumspect Mike Powell (30 not out), before losing patience against Panesar shortly before the close, and being bowled aiming over midwicket before Dalrymple (five not out) saw off the final overs of the day.