MICHAEL Beard led a determined rearguard action for Oxfordshire on the second day of their Unicorns Counties Championship match against Wales at Usk yesterday.

The tall left-hander made a battling 73 and was supported well by Lloyd Sabin and acting skipper Johnny Cater.

But the visitors still conceded a first-innings deficit of 71 and by the close of play Wales had extended the lead to 206 with six wickets still standing.

So Oxon face a stiff test if they are to record their first Western Division 1 win of the campaign.

Resuming at 59-2 in reply to Wales’s first innings of 395-9, Beard and Sabin took their overnight third-wicket stand to 82 before latter departed for 46.

Beard and Cater, whose 47 came off 73 balls and contained nine fours, took the score past the 200 and gave the visitors hope they could come close to Wales’s total.

Both departed in quick succession, Beard’s 73 coming off 163 balls.

Lloyd Brock and Chad Keegan added 55 for the seventh wicket to help them reach 324.

Oxon hit back at the start of the Wales second innings, reducing them to 56-4.

Two of the wickets were taken by 15-year-old debutant left-arm spinner Jamie Curtis, both caught by Sabin at slip.

Oxon were back in the game, but an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 78 between Steffan Roberts and Sam Pearce put Wales back in control.