In glorious Cardiff sunshine, a disappointingly small crowd saw Glamorgan’s poor one day run continue as they lost to a strong Surrey eleven. After a decisive midweek win over Gloucestershire that had taken them to the top of Division 2 of the LV County Championship, the home side rested 4 players for this game, won the toss and elected to bat first.
Pugnacious Australian Mark Cosgrove has been in good form, and battered his fourth successive one day half century. He and Jim Allenby put together an impressive opening stand of 88 at better than a run a ball, before Allenby holed out for 29. Jamie Dalrymple followed quickly, and then Cosgrove himself was clean bowled, swinging unnecessarily wildly after scoring a rapid 61. Midweek centurion Ben Wright then showed his inexperience, throwing away his wicket when the situation demanded a period of consolidation.
Surrey’s early transition from seam to a spin attack had had positive results, and at 123 for 4 Glamorgan’s excellent start had been effectively wasted. The succession of wickets and tighter bowling led to a slower run rate in the middle of the innings. Mark Wallace was the fifth wicket to fall to spin, and with the total only 149 Glamorgan’s last recognised batsman, David Brown, arrived at the crease. He never looked comfortable and was soon the day’s first victim of pace bowling, falling to ex-South African Test player Andre Nel.
Tom Maynard meanwhile had been playing an attractive and thoughtful innings, but was faced with having to shepherd a long tail through the final few overs. The responsibility proved too much for him as he was Nel’s second victim, having made 64. The batting power play had been delayed too long, and was now wasted as it had to be negotiated by the tail-enders.
A few streaky boundaries were useful, but the young bowlers Glamorgan had selected for this game found it tough going with the bat, and they struggled to complete the 40 overs. Glamorgan had made only a moderate total of 223 for 8, perhaps 20 short of par, with Surrey spinners Gareth Batty (2 for 25) and Chris Schofield (2 for 40) having dragged back the early run-surge.
Glamorgan had fielded an inexperienced – some might say experimental – seam attack for this game, and without a big score on the board had to hope that batting under the floodlights would prove a disadvantage for Surrey.
Will Owen had taken 5-49 on debut in Glamorgan’s previous match in this competition against the Unicorns, and bowled his early overs here with good pace. Huw Waters managed to swing the ball nicely, and took the early wicket of Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown. This brought veteran maestro Mark Ramprakash to the middle, and together with Stewart Walters, and then with Usman Afzaal, Surrey scored runs at a brisk rate. In continuing the attack with inexperienced seamers Chris Ashling and David Brown, Glamorgan seemed to confirm that they have already decided to use this competition to experiment with their team, in anticipation of the Twenty20 Cup which starts in less than a fortnight.
Contrary to the visitors’ success with the early introduction of their spinners, Glamorgan surprisingly did not turn to their spinner Dean Cosker, also their most experienced and dangerous bowler, until the 20th over. Energetic fielding had kept the Surrey run rate under control, however, and the seam attack was benefiting from the effect of the floodlights. Opening bowler Owen took the crucial wicket of Ramprakash, who had scored a pleasant 40, and Surrey were 116 for 4 just after the halfway stage of the innings. Dalrymple then decided to bowl his own spin in tandem with Cosker, and they put the brakes on the run rate. dragging Glamorgan back into contention in the match.
Surrey recovered their momentum by sensibly taking their batting power play earlier than the home side, allowing recognised batsmen Chris Schofield and Gareth Batty to take advantage of the fielding restrictions. But Batty fell to Dalrymple for 22 with the total 179 for 7, and with 45 runs needed to win from 7 overs the match situation was tight. Schofield continued his inventive innings however, and his 64 not out took Surrey safely over the line with 2 wickets and 8 balls remaining, as well as winning him the man of the match award for his all-round performance.
By Peter Davies at the SWALEC Stadium
