An unbeaten 75 by Jacques Rudolph plus some disciplined bowling and fielding saw Glamorgan maintain their unbeaten record at The Kia Oval in the competition as they successfully defended a target of 193 to clinch a thrilling four run victory in a pulsating contest in the NatWest T20 Blast.
Forty eight hours ago, the two teams were in Championship action on the North Wales coast at Colwyn Bay, but after a train journey on Wednesday evening by the Surrey players from Llandudno Junction to London Euston, plus car journeys that night by the Glamorgan team back to South Wales and then along the M4 today to London, both teams reconvened in Kennington for tonight's Twenty20 contest.
With Ruaidhri Smith having joined Graham Wagg on the injury list, Glamorgan recalled Andrew Salter to their side for tonight's contest, which saw third place Surrey go head-to-head with the Welsh county who are in fourth spot. After being put in to bat, Jacques Rudolph opened the batting with Jim Allenby who at present has 439 runs to his name in the competition this season and occupies third place behind Surrey's Jason Roy (471 runs) and Craig Kieswetter (458 runs) in the list of leading run-scorers
Azhar Mahmood and Tom Curran shared the new ball and after a series of singles, Allenby struck consecutive boundaries as drilled the latter to the ropes at mid-on before unleashing a glorious cover drive to the next delivery. But /matthew Dunn then replaced Curran and with his first delivery removed Allenby as Zafar Anari took a juggling at the third attempt at short mid-wicket. 20/1 saw Mark Wallace join Rudolph in the fourth over, with the latter greeting the return of Curran at the Pavilion End by driving him to the ropes at wide mid-off.
Wallace also cover drove Curran for four before Rudolph clipped Dunn to backward square-leg for another sweetly-timed boundary to mid-wicket with Tom Curran being injured in sliding to stop the ball as Glamorgan ended the powerplays on 47/1. Reverse-sweeps for four by each batsmen in Robin Peterson's opening over were followed by a reverse-sweep for six by Wallace saw the tempo being upped as the home side briefly opted for an all-spin attack with Gareth Batty operating at the Vauxhall End.
Rudolph then drilled Batty over extra cover for four to bring up the fifty stand, but two balls later Batty trapped Wallace leg before as he attempted another reverse-sweep. Stewart Walters was swiftly off the mark, pulling Roy for three fours in an over, but next over from Batty he chipped a ball back to the spinner as Glamorgan lost their third wicket on 89 in the tenth over.
Chris Cooke duly joined Rudolph and deftly struck his first boundary by steering Zafar Ansari to third man. Rudolph then completed his fifty from 36 balls after a brace of well-placed singles. Cooke opened his shoulder to harpoon Batty for four in the spinner's final over before surviving a stumping chance as he went down the wicket to Batty's final ball.
Cooke celebrated by lofting Peterson into the Pavilion for a straight six before doing the same to Ansari as the ball disappeared into the first tier of the OCS Stand. Next ball, he reverse-swept the spinner for four as Glamorgan raced to 149/3 at the end of the 16
th over before greeting the return of Dunn by depositing him over long-on for six. The bowler though gained revenge next ball as Cooke miscued another expansive drive and was caught by Roy running in from long-off having struck a feisty 43 from just 23 balls.
With the total on 156/4, Murray Goodwin joined Rudolph who next ball clipped Dunn to fine-leg for four before his new partner pulled a short ball, and his first, from Dunn for four. Goodwin also leg-glanced Dunn for four in the penultimate over before Rudolph edged a reverse-sweep for four over the wicket-keeper's head. In the final over from Azhar, Rudolph clipped the Pakistani to fine-leg for four as Glamorgan ended on 192/4 with the South African unbeaten on 75.
Glamorgan then took to the field with Dean Cosker making his 101
st appearance in a Twenty20 match for the Welsh county having been deprived of the opportunity of walking out for the 100
th time last Friday at Cardiff following the washout of the match with Somerset after the toss had been made. Under ECB regulations, although no action took place last Friday at the SWALEC Stadium, the match counted in the records as the two captains had tossed and nominated their teams.
The spinner was soon in the action making a sprawling stop at backward point as Roy tried to smack Allenby's first ball for four. The Surrey man succeeded three balls later before nearly hoisting Michael Hogan into Rudolph's hands at mid-off. Steven Davies then flicked Allenby to fine-leg for four before lofting the all-rounder just over the head of mid-off, followed by an on-drive for four in Will Owen's opening over.
Davies continued to play the more dominant role as he cut Hogan for four but next ball he swatted the Australian to Cosker at backward point and his departure with the total on 38 saw the arrival of Kevin Pietersen. He failed to score off his first two balls before driving his third delivery, from Owen, to long-off for four as Surrey ended the powerplays on 46/1.
Cosker then came on for the seventh over which yielded half a dozen singles before Rudolph entered the attack at the Vauxhall End and was driven for six into the OCS Stand by Roy. The wily Cosker continued to keep things tight at the other end as Andrew Salter replaced Rudolph. He too was lofted for six by both batsmen but only just over Walters' out-stretched hands at long-on and with his fifth delivery Salter saw Pietersen pull a delivery straight into Ben Wright's hands on the mid-wicket boundary as Surrey reached 84/2 at the halfway stage.
Gary Wilson was swiftly off the mark cover-driving Cosker for four before Roy straight drove Cosker for four and six to complete a 35-ball fifty as the target became 82 off seven overs. He continued to find the ropes as he pulled Salter for four before Wilson lofted the young spinner to mid-wicket for successive fours. Allenby then returned with 68 needed from 36 deliveries, and was steered to third man by Wilson but this was the only boundary in the over as Surrey entered the last five overs needing 58 with Owen returning at the Vauxhall End.
With his first delivery he had Wilson caught by Hogan at short fine-leg before Azhar Mahmood drilled the next through extra cover for four before clubbing the next to mid-wicket and the final ball of the over for four in the same direction as the equation became 41 from 24 balls. Hogan duly returned at the Pavilion End and with his first ball he ended Roy's innings as Owen at short fine-leg held onto a steepling catch.
Vikram Solanki joined Azhar but were restricted to just singles by Hogan as the target became 36 from 18 balls after Solanki also nearly holed out to Wright at deep extra cover. Owen bowled the 18
th over and the fifth wicket pair scampered four singles before Azhar pulled the last ball for six as the equation became 26 off 12 balls
Allenby delivered the penultimate over and restricted the pair to three singles before Azhar despatched Allenby over extra cover for four followed by a huge six over long-off as surrey entered the final over needing thirteen to win from the final over by Hogan. Solanki secured a single to deep extra cover off the first ball before Azhar smeared a single to third man. Solanki then swatted the Australian over cover for four before scampering a single. Azhar then struck Hogan to long-off for one and needing a six off the last ball Solanki failed to make contact as Glamorgan won another thriller off the final ball.