Glamorgan 99 for 3 beat Northamptonshire 98 (Sisodiya 3-26, van der Gugten 3-17) by seven wickets
After winning their first four games, Northants lost their second successive Blast outing as Glamorgan completed their second win with 29 balls to spare. The visitors were dismissed in 17.2 overs, which did little for their run rate, while Glamorgan produced their best performance to date.
Had David Lloyd, their aggressive opening batsman, been available for every game, instead of only the last two, Glamorgan might still have a realistic chance of qualifying.
After opting to bat first on a slow pitch, the visitors were soon in trouble, losing their prolific openers after just seven balls. Prem Sisodiya, who has been Glamorgan’s most effective bowler in the competition, trapped Richard Levi leg before with the fourth ball of the innings, then Paul Stirling overbalanced to his first ball from Andrew Salter and was stumped for a single.
Worse was to follow for Northants, as two more wickets fell to leave them struggling on 33 for 4 after the Powerplay, although the batsmen failed to help their cause by playing some careless shots instead of attempting to build an innings.
Tom Sole, son of the former Scotland rugby captain David, was his team’s top scorer with 25, playing some inventive strokes, and of the ten fours struck in the innings, three came from his bat, including one scoop which almost carried all the way for six.
The five Glamorgan bowlers returned satisfactory figures, with Sisodiya and Timm van der Gugten taking three apiece, while Northants’ attack appeared to have surrendered before the second innings began.
Needing to score at only five runs an over ,Lloyd, playing in only his second game of the season because of injury, tucked in to Sanderson’s gentle medium pace by hitting him for three fours in his first over that cost fourteen runs, before Nathan Buck was plundered for fifteen in his first.
There was little respite for the other bowlers as Selman struck Graeme White’s slow left arm spin into the River Taff at long-on, and Glamorgan’s openers were already half -way to their target-(52 for 0) at the end of the six over power play.
The Northants spinners White and Cobb, also bowled accurately, taking a wicket apiece, conceding only thirty nine runs from their combined eight overs.
After sharing an opening partnership of 68 in only overs, Lloyd and Selman departed in quick succession. Lloyd, after a sprightly 40 from 29 balls, with a six and four fours, pushed an innocuous delivery back to Cobb, before Selman was stumped off White after scoring 29.
With fourteen runs required, Chris Cooke skied Gareth Berg to mid-on, but it made little difference to the outcome as the home team strolled to victory.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo