Friends Provident T20
Glamorgan 116-7 (20 overs)
Somerset 92-3 (11.5 overs)
Somerset won by 7 wickets (D/L Method)
Glamorgan’s fragile batting was again to blame for the home side’s heavy defeat in a must-win game against a powerful Somerset side. The result of tonight’s rain-affected match effectively means that Glamorgan cannot now qualify for the knock-out stages of the Friends Provident T20 competition.
Batting first, Glamorgan were soon in deep trouble as their top 3 batsmen were all dismissed cheaply against tight Somerset seam bowling, leaving them at 10-3. Maynard and Wright set about their task well with an impressive counter-attacking recovery, putting together a fine partnership of 61, before Wright was dismissed for a useful 22. Maynard followed him back to the pavilion almost immediately for a very well played 39. With Maynard’s removal, none of the home batsmen were able to play the big shots required to raise the run rate, and only a disappointing 48 runs were scored in the last 10 overs of the innings, which closed on 116-7. Somerset’s bowling had been of the highest quality, with Turner taking 3-25, Phillips 2-20 and Pollard 2-23.
Somerset opened their innings with the potentially explosive pair of Trescothick and Kieswetter. The former took 14 runs of Tait’s first over, cleverly using the bowler’s extreme pace to his own advantage. However, after hitting 2 successive 6s, one of them straight into the River Taff, Kieswetter was bowled by Harris. A brilliant diving catch from Wallace behind the stumps then gave Harris his second wicket, removing Trego for a duck.
A short break for rain was followed soon afterwards for a much longer break. Five overs were lost and Somerset were set an adjusted target of 92 to win under the Duckworth-Lewis method. This effectively put victory beyond Glamorgan’s reach, as the visitors now required only 44 from 9 overs with 8 wickets remaining.
When the players returned to the field after the break, Croft was introduced and took the wicket of Hildreth straight away in an excellent tight over. However the other bowlers were unable either to take wickets or stem the flow of runs, and Trescothick, who made an excellent match winning score of 60 not out, together with West Indian test player Kieron Pollard steered Somerset home to an easy victory with 3.1 overs still remaining.
After a very promising start to the T20 campaign, it must be said that Glamorgan fell away quite badly. Questions must be asked about the wisdom of bringing in expensive overseas player Shaun Tait, who has been extremely disappointing for the Welsh county. When he was called up to play in the one day series for Australia against England he was in astonishing form, bowling at 100mph and capturing the wickets of top class batsman. For Glamorgan he has bowled a good 10mph slower and generally been tonked around the park by mediocre county players. For next season’s T20, more thought needs to be put into the choice of overseas player, and preferably a top all-rounder or at least a class batsman to bolster the top order should be prioritised over a bowler who can in any case only bowl 4 overs per innings.
There is only one game remaining of the T20 now, at home to Kent on Friday evening (6.30 start). Proper cricket then resumes, where Glamorgan have up to now been very successful. It is to be hoped that this interruption for crowd-pleasing T20 has not affected their form in the 4 day game too badly.
Peter Davies
Swalec Stadium Cardiff
