A career-best 142 by Colin Ingram - his third white-ball hundred in as many innings against Essex plus nerveless bowling and fielding in the closing overs saw Glamorgan defeat the Eagles by one run in a thrilling contest in the Royal London One-Day Cup at The SSE SWALEC .
With the Welsh county fielding the same side which lost on Friday by 170 runs to Somerset, Jacques Rudolph and David Lloyd opened the batting with the Glamorgan captain striking the second and third deliveries from Neil Wagner to square-leg and extra-cover for four, but in his third over Wagner found the edge of Rudolph’s bat with wicket-keeper Adam Wheater completing the regulation catch.
Will Bragg opened his account by pulling the Kiwi for four but the left-armer struck again in his fourth over as Lloyd drove the ball to Simon Harmer in the gully. 20/2 saw Colin Ingram make his way to the middle, having struck hundreds against the Eagles in both 20 and 50 over cricket last summer.
He began with a booming off-drive against Jamie Porter before the off-spin of Tom Westley was introduced in the 11th over with Bragg flicking him to fine-leg for four, before Harmer joined the attack five overs later. Ravi Bopara then entered the attack and was lofted to the ropes at mid-wicket by Ingram who then hoisted Harmer over long-on and deep mid-wicket for a pair of sixes.
Bragg also fiercely straight drove Bopara before driving Harmer for four through extra-cover en route to a 72-ball fifty as the 100 also came up in the 25th over. Ingram then unleashed a regal cover drive when Bopara changed ends, but their stand ended after adding 98 in 22 overs as Bragg was stumped advancing down the wicket to Ashar Zaidi.
Kiran Carlson announced his arrival by twice off-driving Zaidi for four before Ingram reached his steady fifty from 75 deliveries. He celebrated by pulling a long-hop from Zaidi for four before Carlson lofted Harmer over wide long-off for another four. The flurry of boundaries prompted the return of Wagner but Ingram steered his first delivery through point for four before Carlson, after surviving a sharp chance in the previous over, unleashed a rasping straight drive for four against the Kiwi international.
Carlson then lofted Bopara over mid-off but perished next delivered as – with the total on 185 – he drilled a ball back to the bowler. His departure saw Chris Cooke join Ingram who shortly afterwards brought up the 200 by pulling Bopara for four. He then pulled Porter’s final delivery for a huge six prior to completing his third successive century against the Eagles from 112 balls.
He added further sixes to his tally as he deposited Bopara over the ropes at mid-wicket and Wagner over extra-cover and into the Pavilion seats. With the total on 246 Cooke holed out at long-on with Aneurin Donald joining Ingram for the last twenty deliveries. The young tyro however miscued his first delivery into the hands of the cover fielder, before Ingram harpooned ten Doeschate for a trio of massive sixes all in the direction of deep mid-wicket in the penultimate over.
Ingram then departed in the final over as he holed out at deep mid-wicket attempting another maximum before Craig Meschede struck the last ball of the innings to long-off for four as Glamorgan ended on 281/7. Their bowlers then made an immediate impact as first Marchant de Lange had Nick Browne caught behind with his fourth delivery, whilst Michael Hogan bowled Westley with his third as the Eagles slipped to 2/2. Varun Chopra then struck the first boundaries of the innings as he twice pulled de Lange for six over fine-leg besides punching Hogan through the covers for a brace of fours.
With Cook pushing the ball around for singles, Chopra added another pulled six to his tally against de Lange before he greeted the introduction of Timm van der Gugten by steering the Dutchman through point for four as the fifty came up in the 11th over. After a flurry of singles, Chopra completed his half-century from 59 balls before Lloyd and Ingram had a spell in tandem.
Chopra square-drove Lloyd for four before Cook late cut Ingram to the ropes in front of the Grandstand as the Eagles soared past the 100-mark in the 22nd over. Six runs later van der Gugten then returned and removed Cook who swatted a ball into the hands of Andrew Salter, the substitute fielder at backward point.
With Bopara as his new partner, Chopra swept Ingram for four before the pair completed a sequence of singles as they quietly chiselled away at the target. Hogan duly returned in a bid to make further headway but he saw an outside edge from Chopra’s bat fly just out of the reach of wicket-keeper Cooke. Bopara then struck his first boundaries as pulled a pair of long-hops from Ingram to mid-wicket before leg-glancing Hogan.
Chopra also cover drove de Lange before pulling Meschede to backward square-leg for his 10th four and after another series of singles, Chopra completed his century from 118 balls. Bopara then flayed van der Gugten through mid-off for four whilst Chopra drilled him over mid-on for another four. Bopara then hoisted the Dutchman straight for six as the 200 came up after 38 overs.
Bopara duly completed his fifty from 42 balls as Essex entered the last ten overs needing a further 75 to win and with seven wickets to win. But Bopara was then run out in bizarre fashion by Meschede as Chopra drilled a ball back to the bowler who dropped the catch but in so doing deflected it onto the stumps with Bopara standed out of his ground as he was backing up.
Wheater joined Chopra who completed a career-best as he launched Meschede over mid-wicket for four. His new partner then reverse-swept Ingram for four before plundering a series of two’s but with the total on 235 he chipped Meschede to mid-wicket where Ingram completed the catch. Chopra cover drove the next ball but was then bowled for 124. This left Zaidi and ten Doeschate in the middle with 43 needed from 36 balls. The former lofted Meschede to long-on for four before scampering a series of singles with his captain as the equation became 20 from 18 balls, but Hogan struck a blow for the home side as, with the total on 264, he yorked Zaidi, then four runs later de Lange did the same to ten Doeschate.
Wagner joined Harmer as the equation duly became 14 from 11 balls and then 7 from the final over by Hogan. Harmer struck the first ball for two to mid-wicket before Hogan responded with a couple of dot balls. A mix-up in running then saw Harmer run out by Cooke. A scampered bye then left Wagner needing to strike a boundary to win the game. He could only squirt two runs as some smart fielding on the legside boundary prevented the boundary and saw Glamorgan home by one run.