Despite a career-best 92 by David Lloyd and some lusty tail end blows, fifties by Nick Gubbins, James Franklin and Eoin Morgan saw Middlesex defeat Glamorgan by two runs in their day-night Royal London One-Day Cup match at Sophia Gardens.
The Welsh county made two changes to their line-up which lost on Sunday at Taunton, with Aneurin Donald replacing Jack Murphy, whilst Timm van der Gugten replaced Michael Hogan who has a hamstring strain. This is Glamorgan’s first day-night encounter at their Cardiff headquarters since they defeated the Leicestershire Foxes in the quarter-final of last summer’s T20 Blast competition. Having lost their opening two games of their white-ball campaign, Colin Ingram and his team will be looking to emulate their achievements from last August.
Lukas Carey shared new ball duties with Timm van der Gugten and was punched through extra cover by Paul Stirling. Nick Gubbins also cover drove van der Gugten before straight driving Carey for a second boundary. It was a case of the luck of the Irish as Stirling under edged a delivery from van der Gugten to fine-leg before Gubbins cover drove successive deliveries from the Dutchman to the ropes at extra cover.
The boundaries continued to come as Gubbins again cover drove Carey before Stirling drilled van der Gugten high over the head of cover as well as along the ground through the same area, besides before flaying the Dutchman to the third man ropes. Gubbins then brought up the fifty in the 7th over as he despatched Carey for four through the covers before swatting Marchant de Lange in the same direction.
But de Lange made the breakthrough as Stirling - having been felled in the lower abdomen the previous over – edged an expansive drive with Chris Cooke completing the catch. With Stevie Eskinazi as his new partner, Gubbins twice pulled de Lange for four to complete a 53-ball fifty but later in the over the paceman struck again as the opener swatted a ball to Donald on the Pavilion boundary.
92/2 saw the arrival of Eoin Morgan in the middle after sixteen overs and he began by straight-driving de Lange for four. Eskinazi also greeted the introduction of Andrew Salter into the attack by square-driving the spinner for four to bring up the 100. Morgan then reverse-swept Salter for four before scything Graham Wagg through backward point for four, followed by a rasping pull.
Morgan also had the good fortune to outside edge van der Gugten to third man for four before pulling and driving the next two deliveries for more orthodox fours. Eskinazi also found the ropes as he cover drove Salter before swatting van der Gugten to third man. Morgan then cover drove the Dutchman to complete a 49-ball fifty followed by a harpooned six over mid-wicket against Salter.
But Morgan perished in Ingram’s opening over as he pulled a short delivery to Nick Selman at long-on. 185/3 saw Hilton Cartwright join Eskinazi and he began by edging Salter to third man before nearly being caught superbly at mid-on by de Lange who just failed to complete a diving catch but Eskinazi was not so fortunate later in the over as he edged a sweep into Cooke’s gloves as Middlesex lost their fourth wicket on 195.
Cartwright brought up the 200 by sweeping Salter for six but Ingram struck again as John Simpson top-edged a cut into Cooke’s gloves. Wagg then returned in spin mode and was straight driven for four by James Franklin before a sequences of singles was broken by a rasping straight drive by Cartwight against Wagg. Franklin then lofted Ingram for a straight six but Cartwright perished with the total on 256 as he miscued a pull against de Lange and Donald took a good catch diving forward at deep mid-wicket.
In the closing overs, Franklin chipped de Lange to mid-wicket before a rasping on-drive to the boards as he completed a 46-ball fifty. In the final over he added a cover-driven four plus an upper-cut over gully whilst Sowter drove de Lange through mid-off before swatting him over point for six as Middlesex ended on 304/6.
Donald and Selman began Glamorgan’s chase as Steve Finn and Tom Helm shared the new ball. Selman edged Finn to third man for four whilst Donald punched Helm off the back foot through point. Selman then drilled Helm to the mid-off boundary before Donald did the same to Finn followed by a hook to fine-leg against Helm.
Donald then flat-batted Helm over the head of mid-on before drilling him to the boundary boards at long-off followed by another square-drive for four as Glamorgan reached the 50 in the 8th over. Selman then flicked Finn to fine-leg before Donald biffed Franklin through mid-wicket for another boundary.
Ravi Patel’s left-arm spin was introduced at the River End with Donald on-driving and sweeping successive deliveries for further fours. But in his second over Patel removed Donald as he was caught behind for 48 with Glamorgan on 86/1. Five runs later Patel snaffled a second wicket as Selman departed l.b.w. before five more runs were added when Shaun Marsh drove Stirling’s first ball back to the bowler who completed a good low catch.
David Lloyd duly joined forces with Ingram who edged a drive against Nathan Sowter’s wrist spin for four before driving Stirling through wide long-off. He then did the same to the leg-spinner before Lloyd lofted him straight for six. This aggression heralded the return of Helm who found the edge of Lloyd’s bat but the ball sped to the third man boundary. Lloyd then pulled the next ball for four before greeting the return of Patel by cutting him for four.
Lloyd also cut Helm as the task became 130 from 18 overs with the fourth wicket pair pushing the ball around for one’s and two’s before Lloyd drilled Patel for six over long-on to complete a 48-ball fifty. He then brought up the century stand by hoisting Finn over mid-wicket for six before reaching a career-best by pulling Cartwright for four and six in successive balls.
But with the total on 222, Ingram swept Patel to Cartwright at deep mid-wicket and departed for 42. Five runs later Chris Cooke drove Stirling to Finn at extra cover as Wagg joined Lloyd as the final powerplay began with 77 needed from 60 balls. The new man began by on-driving Patel for four before Lloyd drilled him for six over long-off.
Wagg then lofted Stirling for six over wide long-on as the task became 57 off 48 balls. But Sowter returned and removed Lloyd who advanced down the track and was stumped by Simpson as Salter joined Wagg with Finn also returning at the River End. Wagg responded by cutting the visiting captain for four and then straight-driving Sowter, but Helm return and removed Salter who miscued a ball to the leg-spinner at mid-wicket.
The equation was 37 from 27 as de Lange joined Wagg and he began by scything Finn to third man for four before scampering some singles with his partner. Wagg also pulled Helm for four as the task became 22 from 12 but visiting attack restricted the pair to one’s and two’s before Finn bowled Wagg. Leaving van der Gugten and de Lange needing sixteen from the final over. But Helm bowled the latter with his first ball before Carey square-cut Helm for four, besides clipping him to fine-leg for four. This was followed by a scampered single from the penultimate ball leaving van der Gugten needing to hit a six to tie the game, but he puled the ball just short of the mid-wicket ropes for four as Middlesex won by two runs.