Glamorgan continued in winning ways with their second emphatic victory in the space of 24 hours as Jacques Rudolph (61) and Jim Allenby (70) shared another opening stand of 136 as the Welsh county completed a seven-wicket victory over Middlesex at the SWALEC Stadium in their opening match in the Royal London One-Day Cup
With James Harris unavailable, Graham Wagg resting and Will Owen having a side strain, Glamorgan called up Dewi Penrhyn Jones, the young fast bowler who is on the Club's Academy into their line-up for this 50-overs contest. But it was Michael Hogan who took the new ball with Jim Allenby, with the Australian paceman making an early incision as he bowled Dawid Malan with his fifth delivery as the opening batsman shouldered arms.
Nick Gubbins struck the first boundary of the day as in the fifth over he cover drove Hogan, before next over pulling him to fine-leg. Chris Rogers also drilled Allenby through the covers for a crisply-struck four. Gubbins then edged Hogan just short of second slip but two balls later Hogan struck again as Rogers miscued to mid-on where David Lloyd took a good catch diving forward. His departure saw the arrival of Eoin Morgan, but after a straight drive against Hogan, he became the Australian's third scalp as he got an under edge to a cut and was safely pouched by Mark Wallace as Middlesex slipped to 33/3 in the 12
th over.
Ryan Higgins swatted Hogan through the covers for four before Gubbins greeted Penrhyn Jones' first over by despatching him through mid-off for four. but the flame-haired young paceman struck with his eighth delivery as Higgins sparred at another short ball and gave Wallace another catch as Middlesex slipped to 53/4. David Lloyd, who is a cousin of Penrhyn Jones', then entered the attack at the Cathedral Road End as the two North Walians briefly bowled in tandem with Lloyd conceding just a series of singles with his nagging seamers..
Gubbins then pulled Penrhyn Jones for six before Glamorgan switched to spin with Dean Cosker joining the attack at the River End. It led to an end to Gubbins' innings as he edged the left-arm spinner into Wallace's safe gloves with the total on 76. Simpson pulled a short ball from Lloyd for six but two balls later edged him into Wallace's gloves before three balls later Toby Roland-Jones edged Lloyd to Allenby at first slip. 86/7 then became 90/8 as Tim Murtagh also edged to Allenby.
Neil Dexter and Steve Finn then accumulated initially in singles as Andrew Salter bowled in tandem with Hogan as well as Cosker who Finn twice pulled for four to mar what were frugal figures of 10-2-19-1. A leg-glance for two by Finn against Allenby also brought up the fifty stand with the pair watchfully seeing Middlesex from 90/8 to 174/8.
Allenby then opened the innings with Rudolph and struck the first two boundaries as he twice cover drove Murtagh. Rudolph also unfurled a couple of sublime cover drives as he despatched Toby Roland-Jones to the ropes before forcing Finn off the back foot through point and also extra cover. Another square driven four by Allenby against Finn brought up the 50 in the tenth over.
The end of the powerplays saw Ravi Patel's left-arm spin being introduced at the Cathedral Road End and he was greeted with a pair of rasping square-cuts by Allenby, who then turned his attention to Murtagh who he pulled to the ropes at long-leg before again cutting Patel when he dropped short. Rudolph also cover drove Patel for four before Allenby completed his assertive fifty from 58 balls with another deftly worked single through the off-side.
Allenby also brought up the 100 with another deft nurdle in the 21
st over whilst his partner, after cover-driving Roland-Jones, also completed his fifty from 60 balls by off-driving Malan. Allenby also late-cut the wrist spinner to the point boundary before Finn returned and was swatted for four to point by Rudolph before Allenby pulled him for four later in the over as the Panthers hoped their England paceman might prevent a ten-wicket defeat.
It did the trick however, as with the total on 136 - the same score that the pair had added against Middlesex at Richmond in their Twenty20 encounter - Rudolph edged a pull against Finn at departed for 61. Next over, Allenby also returned to the pavilion as on 70 he lofted Patel into the hands of Roland-Jones at long-off. After Goodwin had pulled Patel to the mid-wicket ropes he too departed to the spinner as he drilled a ball to mid-on.
But Wallace cover-drove Dexter for four and together with Chris Cooke quietly saw Glamorgan as the latter on-drove Malan before striking the winning runs in the 37
th over as Glamorgan completed another thoroughly professional victory, and all on the same wicket where on Friday night they clinched their Twenty20 quarter-final place with an equally resounding win over Gloucestershire.