A career-best 88 from Will Bragg and 74 by Murray Goodwin led Glamorgan to a record-breaking chase against Surrey at Guildford as the Welsh county made 308/7 to record a three-wicket victory and complete back-to-back wins against metropolitan opposition in the Royal London One-Day Cup following their seven wicket defeat of the Middlesex Panthers yesterday at Cardiff.
There were several changes to the Glamorgan side this morning from the team that won yesterday at Cardiff, with Graham Wagg and James Harris returning to the Welsh county's line-up in place of the rested Michael Hogan and Academy bowler Dewi Penrhyn Jones. Jim Allenby was unwell so Will Bragg was summoned as a late replacement as Mark Wallace won the toss and invited Surrey to bat with Stewart Walters being given permission to field as a substitute in the early overs before Bragg arrived at the Woodbridge Road ground.
Wagg and Harris shared the new ball with Jason Roy starting with an inside-edge for four against Wagg, who in his next over bowled Tillekeratne Dishan as Surrey slipped to 5/1. Steve Davies began with a pair of fours through backward point against Harris, before getting a thick edge to another delivery which evaded the slip cordon and sped away for four.
Davies then off-drove Wagg as the ball sped to the boundary adjoining the busy road that formed one side of the ground, whilst in the next over Roy on-drove Harris to the mid-wicket boundary on the opposite side of the ground adjacent to a railway embankment where a series of trains headed in and out of the nearby railway station. Amidst the hustle and bustle of this suburban sprawl, Wagg was then struck for successive fours by Roy before Davies drilled Harris in the air through extra cover to bring up the fifty in the 8
th over
Dean Cosker's canny left-arm spin was then introduced with Roy launching his second ball over mid-on for four as Surrey ended the first block of powerplays on 60/1. Jacques Rudolph's wrist spin was also employed from the twelfth over with Davies clipping a full toss to the square-leg ropes. Roy also off-drove Cosker to the ropes but in Rudolph's next over, he miscued a drive into Murray Goodwin's hands on the extra cover boundary.
With the total on 79/2 Vikram Solanki joined Davies but his stay was very brief as three runs later a smart stop and return by Wagg at cover saw the experienced stranded in mid-pitch with a gleeful Wallace removing the bails. Gary Wilson duly made his way to the middle before Davies cover drove Cosker en route to a 44-ball fifty as Surrey reached the 100-mark in the 17
th over with Bragg also taking to the field having arrived after his morning journey
Andrew Salter then entered the attack and with his third delivery he had Davies caught behind with Rory Burns getting off the mark with an outside edge to third man against Cosker who for the second successive day bowled a frugal mid-innings spell. He was also rewarded with the wicket of Wilson, who with his side on 108, top-edged a sweep to Goodwin at square-leg.. His departure saw Azhar Mahmood join Burns but with Salter also in a parsimonious mode, the pair were restricted to a series of sporadic singles as the tempo dropped.
Rudolph then returned at the Pavilion End, but it was Salter who was struck for the first boundary in ten overs as Azhar reverse-swept the young spinner before next over clipping a full toss to mid-wicket. David Lloyd then replaced Rudolph at the Pavilion End and after a tight first over he was pulled for four by Azhar in his second. The Pakistani then cover drove Salter before Burns glanced Lloyd to the ropes at fine-leg.
Azhar greeted the return of Cosker by lofting him over mid-off for a rare four before Surrey took their batting powerplay on 183/5 in the 36
th over as Wagg and Harris bowled in tandem. Burns unleashed two sweetly-timed off-drives against Harris as the 200 came up in the 38
th over. The hundred stand came up with an edged four from a Wagg no-ball before Azhar completed his fifty from 53 balls followed by a pulled four against Wagg. Burns followed suit shortly afterwards from 72 balls - his first fifty in a List A game.
Theis stand of 114 ended after 19.5 overs as Cosker returned for his final over and snared Azhar leg before. Zafar Ansari replaced the veteran as Bragg entered the attack and was pulled for six by Burns who then twice reverse-swept Salter for four before the pair worked the ball around as the seamers returned for the last five overs. There was some late aggression as well as Burns drilled Harris straight for four before Ansari struck Wagg for successive fours. But their spree ended as Ansari swatted Harris to Goodwin at deep square-leg.
287/7 saw Stuart Meaker make his way to join Burns, with the latter then scything Harris for four to literally edge closer to a maiden one-day hundred, but in the penultimate over he was bowled by Wagg as Surrey closed on 307/8 leaving Glamorgan to make their highest List A total batting second and winning. Indeed, their previous highest against county opposition was 304/8 in the NatWest Trophy match against Hampshire at Southampton in 1997, with other scores of 314/2 against the British Universities at Fenner's in 1996 and 328/6 against West Indies a at Ebbw Vale in 2006.
However, immediate thoughts were on laying a decent foundation as Rudolph and Bragg began the innings against Dilshan's spin and Azhar's seam delivered off a short run. After a series of singles, Rudolph despatched Dilshan through extra cover for four whilst Bragg nonchalantly clipped Azhar to square-leg for another boundary before also biffing Dilshan through extra cover.
But with the total on 27, Rudolph chopped a ball from Azhar onto his stumps. Lloyd duly joined Bragg as Freddie Van den Burgh's spin replaced Dilshan at the Pavilion End. The tall left-armer was clipped for four to mid-wicket by Lloyd who then cover drove Azhar before sweeping the spinner to the ropes at backward square-leg.
A wide from George Edwards brought up the 50 in the 10
th over, before the young bowler was clipped to square-leg and also straight driven for a pair of fours by Bragg as the pair completed their fifty stand with a series of singles. Lloyd celebrated by on-driving van den Bergh for four before Bragg drilled Dilshan through extra cover for another boundary. With the total on 93, a smart stop by Wilson at extra cover saw Lloyd run out as Goodwin joined Bragg who then swatted Meaker square of the wicket to complete a 63-ball fifty as the hundred also came up.
Goodwin swept van den Burgh for four before cutting Ansari's first and fourth balls for further boundaries. He then nurdled Dilshan for four, followed by a booming off-drive against the Sri /lankan. Next over, he again nurdled Ansari to third man, before sweeping him to fine-leg. Bragg also harpooned Dishan over mid-wicket for six before Goodwin cut Ansari for four en route to a 50-ball fifty.
He celebrated by clipping Edwards for consecutive fours to fine-leg and mid-wicket, followed three balls later by a six over square-leg and almost onto the railway embankment as a couple of singles later saw the century stand come up, before five wides from Meaker brought up the 200.
The target duly became 100 off 16 overs as Goodwin again swept Ansari to the ropes, before Glamorgan took their batting powerplay on 216/2. To the first delivery from Meaker, Goodwin miscued a pull into mid-wicket's hands and departed for 74. Chris Cooke joined Bragg and began by cutting Meaker for a rasping four. But with the total on 227, Braggs valiant innings came to an end as on a career-best 88 he edged Meaker into Rory Burn's gloves.
Wallace duly joined forces with Cooke and drove Meaker for three successive fours, but after a single to the next ball, Cooke was caught behind as Glamorgan lost their third wicket in the powerplay. 246/5 then became 247/6 as Ben Wright edged Ansari to slip. Wagg announced his arrival with a furious pull for four against Ansari as the target became 49 off 42 balls as Azhar returned and conceded just four singles, with Meaker switching to the Pavilion End.
Wagg off drove Meaker for four but Wallace then miscued a drive against the seamer with Ansari holding onto the skier with Salter joining Wagg needing 39 from 30 balls. Salter pulled Azhar for four before Wagg drilled him through the covers to reduce the target to 27 off 24 balls. Successive on-driven fours by Salter followed by a late cut by Wagg saw this swiftly become 14 off 19 balls. Azhar was then driven straight by Wagg but only one other run came from his penultimate over as the target became 7 from 12 balls.
After a single off a no-ball from Meaker and a dot-ball, Wagg clipped the ball to mid-wicket where a fumble by the fielder saw the ball go for four as Glamorgan won with nine balls to spare.