Glamorgan 199 for 2 (Rudolph 77*, Donald 50) beat Kent 174 for 4 (Denly 68, Northeast 60) by 25 runs
Jacques Rudolph led the way for Glamorgan again © Getty Images
Half-centuries by Jacques Rudolph and Aneurin Donald coupled with a frugal two-over stint of 1 for 12 by Craig Meschede helped Glamorgan extend their leadership of the NatWest T20 Blast South Group with an emphatic 25-run win over Kent.
Rudolph’s captain’s knock of 77 not out from 52 balls saw Glamorgan post 199 for 2 on an excellent Canterbury pitch – a pursuit that proved too tough for Kent despite Joe Denly’s 68 as the hosts fell well short with a 20-over total of 174 for 4.
Looking for their fourth South Group win, Kent’s chase started with panache when Denly straight drove Michael Hogan’s fourth delivery for a straight six. At the other end Daniel Bell-Drummond went for 3, dragging the ball on to middle stump in attempting to cut Lukas Carey’s third delivery of the afternoon to bring in Kent skipper Sam Northeast with only 21 on the board.
Denly hit the ropes three times as Graham Wagg’s first over of left-arm seam went for 13 to move past the 300-run milestone in this year’s Blast, yet Kent were still 10 behind the visitors come the end of the Powerplay.
Northeast upped the tempo with a swept six against Colin Ingram’s wrist spin and, with spin at both ends, Denly repeated the dose against Andrew Salter to keep Kent ticking at eight-an-over. Hitting to the shortest boundary on the Old Dover Road side of the ground, Northeast cleared the ropes again against Ingram as did Denly over extra cover against Wagg as Kent reached 93 for 1 at the midpoint of their reply.
After taking a wicket and conceding only two in his opening over, Carey leaked 17 in his second over as Northeast cantered to a 28-ball fifty with four sixes. But he holed out to deep midwicket when targeting another six off Marchant de Lange to end a second-wicket stand of 89 and bring in left-hander Alex Blake.
Denly continued serenely, lofting Wagg for a third maximum in a 36-ball half-century, but Blake chipped to long-off in Meschede’s first over to be replaced by allrounder Jimmy Neesham. Suddenly the boundaries dried up and, with 36 required from the last five overs. Wagg had his revenge by having Denly (68) caught on the ropes at deep midwicket and Kent’s outside victory hopes went with him.
Bowling first after winning the toss, Kent made two changes to the side that beat Somerset on Friday night. Having suffered a recurrence of a thigh injury New Zealand paceman Adam Milne was replaced by Calum Haggett, while veteran offspinner James Tredwell was preferred to rookie left-armer Imran Qayyum.
Glamorgan made a watchful start through openers Rudolph and Donald, who opened their side’s boundary account in the third over when Matt Coles leaked 15 runs. Neesham also conceded 15 from his second over as Glamorgan completed their Powerplay overs without alarm in reaching 62 without loss.
Taking a low-risk approach to batting by keeping the ball on the turf with proper cricket strokes, the visiting openers complimented each other superbly and kept the board ticking just as nicely.
Donald was first to his 50 from 30 balls only to lose his middle stump when playing across the line to Haggett’s very next delivery that made it 88 for 1. Glamorgan dangerman Ingram marched in with 275 runs already to his name in this season’s Blast and appeared intent on accelerating the run rate.
Rudolph raised Glamorgan’s 100 with an impudent reverse flick for six off Haggett then left-hander Ingram cleared the ropes with a slog-sweep off the next delivery from Tredwell. But, with his score on 11, Ingram risked a lofted straight drive off Coles and miscued high to long-off where Bell-Drummond took a stunning catch on the run.
Rudolph cantered to his fifty from 35 balls and finished unbeaten on 77 from 52, while David Miller contributed a useful 43 not out from 25 balls, plundering 19 off Mitch Claydon’s last over to set Kent a tough asking rate of 10 an over for victory.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo