Showing flashes of his old genius, Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly hit an unbeaten half-century Glamorgan in a county tie against Kent at Cardiff.

At close of play, Ganguly was on 61 runs made off 73 balls and David Hemp was on 57 as Glamorgan faced the uphill task of saving the match against Kent, who piled on a mammoth first innings total of 568.

Glamorgan are on 175 for three and need a further 244 to avoid the follow on.

Ganguly, who has so far seen the opposition pile up huge totals in his first two ties of the county season and was out for a duck in his last match, came in with Glamorgan struggling at 79 for three. He began his innings edgily but was soon into his stride.

Playing with panache on the off-side, he hit a couple of boundaries, one a rasping cut backward of square that reminded viewers of the Ganguly of old.

Once he had grown accustomed to the pace of the pitch - not unlike a typical Indian strip - Ganguly settled in nicely and played with freedom, hitting spinner Min Patel for three fours and a six in one explosive over.

However, it will need a Herculean effort to lift Glamorgan from the doldrums. Laden with an insipid bowling attack, the county side now faces its sixth defeat in seven matches and possible relegation from first division matches.