Reaction: ‘Lovely birthday present and even better to get the win’

5 Aug 2018 | Cricket
Birthday boy Ruaidhri Smith took a career-best 4/6 on his 24th birthday as Glamorgan strolled to a seven wicket victory over Middlesex at Old Deer Park.

Smith dismissed top order Middlesex batsmen Gubbins, Eskinazi, Stirling and Morgan as the hosts could only post 131 from their alloted overs. The visitors lost Donald and Meschede early in their chase but Carlson (40) and Ingram (46*) calmed any nerves as Glamorgan strolled to victory and reached their target with 7.1 overs to spare.

“It was a lovely birthday present and even better to get the win at the end," said Smith. "There were a couple of good balls and a couple of lucky inside edges onto the stumps – everything was going my way

“We’ve played here a few times now and there have been a couple of 200-run chases, so it was nice to keep them under 150 and we were confident going into our batting. I was quite happy not to be needed for that.

“The team’s gone on a little bit of a roll now so hopefully we can carry that on and go through to the quarter-finals. We’ve been a bit unlucky that a few of the guys have gone down with injuries and call-ups, but that’s brought us together a bit and everyone’s stepped up to the plate in these last few games.”