Despite a career-best 92 by Nick Selman, an unbeaten 150 by Joe Denly – another List A best - guided the Kent Spitfires to a four-wicket victory with eleven balls to spare in their Royal London One-Day Cup game at an overcast St. Lawrence ground in Canterbury.
In racing parlance, this is a maiden contest with both teams yet to record a victory, with Glamorgan in 8th place in the table and Kent below them at the bottom of the Southern Group having lost both of their matches in the competition, being defeated by Sussex by seven wickets and then to Middlesex by seventy runs.
With Marchant de Lange - like Michael Hogan - suffering a hamstring strain, Ruaidhri Smith came into the side as the Welsh county were put in to bat, with Nick Selman and Aneurin Donald opening the batting. The former struck the first ball of the day from Mitch Claydon through extra cover for four before clipping the last delivery to the ropes at fine-leg. Selman added a third boundary as he drilled Claydon through point in his next over, but in the fourth over Matt Henry removed Donald l.b.w. as he played half forward to the Kiwi.
22/1 saw the arrival of Shaun Marsh before Selman found the ropes again as he straight drove Henry. Marsh began by square-driving Darren Stevens when he replaced Claydon at the Nackington Road End, whilst Selman also drilled the all-rounder through mid-off for four as well as clipping Calum Haggett twice to mid-wicket as he completed a 66-ball fifty with the floodlights coming on in the cloudy conditions.
The second wicket pair also deftly worked the ball around for a series of one’s and two’s before Marsh on-drove Stevens for four and then brought up the 100 by clipping him over the in-field and to the ropes at deep mid-wicket. The Australian also pulled a couple of long hops from Joe Denly for a pair of fours when the Kent captain entered the attack.
The second brought up the century stand but next ball, Marsh lofted the wrist spinner to long-off where Henry completed an acrobatic catch on the boundary’s edge , throwing the ball back into the field as his momentum carried him over the ropes before stepping back into the field of play and catching the ball again.
Colin Ingram joined Selman who found the ropes yet again as he nurdled Claydon to third man. Ingram then announced his arrival by pulling the veteran seamer for six onto the balcony of one of the retirement apartments adjoining the famous ground, followed by a cheeky reverse-sweep for four. But Denly had the last laugh as Ingram pulled the next delivery straight to Daniel Bell-Drummond at deep mid-wicket.
David Lloyd began with a quartet of singles before dabbing Stevens to third man for three followed by a firmly struck on-drive for four to long-on against Denly. He then unfurled a forearm smash through point against Stevens followed by a sweep for six high over square-leg, but with the total on 185 he lofted Denly to long-off where Henry completed his second boundary catch.
Cooke then added a series of singles before Selman on 92 – his best List A score – was bowled by Claydon who had returned at the Nackington Road End. Graham Wagg became Cooke’s new partner as Glamorgan entered the final ten overs of powerplay on 199/5, and the all-rounder continued to unleash some savage swipes lofting Denly over extra cover for six. But Cooke was bowled by Denly’s penultimate delivery as Glamorgan lost their sixth wicket on 211.
Wagg then scampered a series of one’s and two’s with Andrew Salter before drilling Henry to long-off. Salter also flayed Claydon to the point boundary before losing his off stump to the next delivery with his side on 249/7. Smith began by clipping Claydon to the ropes at fine-leg before plonking the next ball for six into the apartments at mid-wicket, but it was a brief cameo as next over he chipped Henry into the hands of extra cover.
Wagg though continued to flay the ball around as he swatted Claydon to square-leg for four before scooping him over fine-leg for six. But van der Gugten was caught behind to the final ball of the penultimate over before Wagg in attempting to complete his fifty was caught at deep mid-wicket.
Kent’s target was 275 in their 50 overs as Zak Crawley and Daniel Bell-Drummond made their way to the middle to face the bowling of Lukas Carey and Ruaidhri Smith. Both bowlers were in parsimonious mood with Carey almost having Bell-Drummond caught at mid-wicket before the opener was trapped l.b.w. by Smith with just seven runs on the board. Crawley struck the first boundary in the seventh over as he on-drove Carey before twice repeating the stroke in Carey’s next over.
Denly swatted Smith for four through extra cover, but nevertheless, Kent were 39/1 at the end of ten overs, comfortably the lowest total made against Glamorgan’s new ball attack during the first powerplays so far this summer. Five runs later, Smith was rewarded for his tenacity by bowling Crawly as the tall opener chopped a ball onto his stumps and was replaced in the middle by Heino Kuhn.
The South African began by carving van der Gugten through backward point for four before Denly on-drove Smith to the boards at mid-wicket. Denly also struck successive deliveries from Salter to the cover boundary for four as the third wicket pair also worked the ball around with a couple of near run out chances.
Denly brought up the 100 by straight-driving Wagg for four but next ball, Kuhn’s overzealous calling saw him run out as he was sent back by his captain with the left-armer picking up and directly hitting the stumps in his follow-through. Sean Dickson duly joined Denly who reached his fifty from 64 balls by square-driving Wagg for four. He then did the same to Lloyd before launching him over the head of mid-off followed next ball by a boundary all along the ground in the same direction.
But in Wagg’s next over, Dickson departed as he lobbed a slower ball into Lloyd’s hands at short extra-cover with Kent on 129/4 as the floodlights came back on. Alex Blake responded by straight-driving Wagg whilst Denly clipped Carey to mid-wicket as the target became 131 from 120 balls.
With the scoring rate dropping, Denly opened his shoulders to biff successive deliveries from Wagg over mid-off for a pair of fours before drilling Smith through mid-on for another firmly struck four. Ingram then entered the attack and was harpooned for six over square-leg by Blake who then turned his attention to Smith and pulled him for another maximum over mid-wicket.
He then greeted the return of Salter by lofting the spinner into the top tier of the Frank Woolley with salt being rubbed into the visitor’s wounds by the umpire calling a no ball for not having enough men in the fielding ring. Later in the over Denly completed his century by also pulling Salter for six – his 105th delivery – followed by a searing cover drive for four as the target plummeted to 58 from 66 balls.
Van der Gugten then returned to the fray and with his first ball removed Blake who edged into Cooke’s gloves as Stevens joined his captain and began by pulling Ingram for four. Denly then drilled van der Gugten to the ropes at extra-cover before swatting him to mid-wicket in his next over, followed by a lofted off-drive for six to the next delivery as the task became 25 from 36 balls.
Wagg then returned to the attack having been briefly off the field for treatment, and bowled Stevens with a slower delivery. Denly responded by lofting Ingram inside-out over extra cover for four before Adam Rouse drilled Ingram over long-on for six. Denly then applied the coup de grace by flat-batting Wagg for four to mid-wicket before bringing the scores level with a single to mid-off and ending the game next over by cover-driving Ingram for four to end unbeaten on 150 from 143 balls.