Glamorgan clinched a home quarter-final in the NatWest T20 Blast against Leicestershire and top spot in the Southern Group as they beat Middlesex by seven wickets at The SSE SWALEC in a match reduced by rain to 14 overs.
Glamorgan went into tonight’s game on top of the Southern Group and, like second place Hampshire who are one point behind them, they are assured of a place in the last eight of the competition. Hampshire, who meet Somerset at the Ageas Bowl, and third placed Surrey, who last night beat Gloucestershire by two wickets, are the only other teams who could head the table if the Welsh county lose tonight.
Middlesex occupy fifth spot and, depending on results elsewhere, they also have a chance of finishing in the top four and securing an away quarter-final. However, their recent record against Glamorgan in the competition is poor as having won their inaugural game by 84 runs at Richmond in 2009, they have been defeated by the Welsh county in their last six games in the T20 competition.
The Welsh county made one change to their line-up with Kiran Carlson replacing Lukas Carey, whilst Marchant de Lange and Michael Hogan shared the new ball, besides taking a share of the first wicket as to the fourth ball of the night Paul Stirling upper cut the South African to Hogan at third man. 2/1 became 5/2 as John Simpson drove Hogan to mid-off where Jacques Rudolph took a good running catch before De Lange struck again as Eoin Morgan edged the quickie to Colin Ingram as Middlesex slipped further to 7/3.
Adam Voges then clipped successive balls from de Lange for four to mid-wicket and fine-leg, before Hogan struck again with the first ball of his second over as he bowled Stevie Eskinazi. Adam Voges clipped another four to fine-leg but on 22/4 the rains returned after four overs as the players briefly left the field. No overs were lost as three minutes later the players returned and de Lange claimed his third scalp as he yorked James Franklin with Middlesex further in the mire on 24/5.
Adam Voges and Ryan Higgins then scampered a series of singles with the former also clipping Colin Ingram for a pair of leg-side fours, plus a three to fine-leg. The Australian then straight drove Wagg for four but with the total on 68 Higgins drove Wagg to long-on where Aneurin Donald ran in to complete another good catch. Voges responded by pulling a short ball from Meschede for four to complete a 25-ball fifty followed by another pull for four against Wagg.
Tim Southee also used the long handle to club Wagg for six before holing out to short third man in Hogan’s final over before Tom Helm was run out by the Australian from the final ball as Middlesex ended on 99/8. Selman and Donald then began the chase in positive vein with the former steering Steven Finn’s first ball through point for four, whilst the latter drilled Tom Helm for successive fours through mid-off before outside-edging Ryan Higgins for four as the home side moved ahead of the DLS par score at the five over stage.
Donald greeted Nathan Sowter by cover-driving him for four but in the next over he miscued a drive against Higgins into the hands of Morgan at short extra-cover.49/1 then became 50/2 as Selman clipped Higgins to the fielder at deep mid-wicket. Ingram and Rudolph joined forces but play was halted in the eighth over as Higgins sustained a shoulder injury whilst fielding at third man. With the total on 54 Ingram chipped Stirling to the fielder at mid-wicket as Chris Cooke joined his captain with 41 needed from the last five overs.
The pair accumulated in one’s and two’s before Cooke reverse-scooped Stirling for four as the task became 31 from 24 balls. Rudolph then clipped Helm for four to fine-leg as the task became 22 from 18 balls as drizzle fell again. The captain responded by scything Finn for four to third man, followed by a nonchalant clip to fine-leg for another boundary as the equation became 10 from a dozen balls. After a pair of twos through the off-side, Cooke pulled Southee for four before Rudolph scampered the winning runs with an over to spare.
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