77 from 45 balls by Jacques Rudolph, plus a quickfire cameo by Craig Meschede of 35 from 17 balls saw Glamorgan defeat Hampshire by 23 runs in the NatWest T20 Blast at the Ageas Bowl .
The Welsh county made two changes to their line-up for tonight's match from the one which defeated Somerset last Sunday at Taunton, with Andrew Salter and Ruaidhri Smith returning to the side in place of the injured Graham Wagg and Wayne Parnell who has flown to Bangladesh to link up with the South African touring team. Glamorgan also amended their batting order with Jacques Rudolph opening with Colin Ingram.
Rudolph struck the first boundary of the innings as he cover drove Will Smith in the opening over of the contest, before repeating the stroke in the second, delivered by Chris Wood, as well as in the third, to Jackson Bird's opening delivery. Ingram, whose birthday it is today, enjoyed some good fortune as he nearly holed out to mid-on before pulling Bird for four and then lofting the Australian high over extra cover for six.
The helter-skelter start continued as Rudolph despatched Gareth Berg through extra cover but later in the over, and with the total on 36, Ingram skied a drive to James Vince at mid-off. Ben Wright opened his account by driving Wood to mid-wicket for four before Rudolph brought up the fifty by reverse-lapping Berg to third man for four as Glamorgan ended the powerplays on 54/1.
Wright then greeted Briggs by reverse-sweeping him for four but next over he drilled the ball from Yasir Arafat to mid-off where Jackson Bird dived to his left and in full flight held a fine catch. 64/2 then became 67/3 as Chris Cooke steered a ball from Briggs to backward point. With David Lloyd as his new partner, Rudolph swept Smith for four before doing the same to Briggs en route to a 31-ball fifty.
The innings stuttered again with the total on 82 as Lloyd swept Briggs to Wood at backward square-leg with Mark Wallace making his way to the middle. Rudolph found the ropes again as he pulled Arafat for four before Wallace thick-edged Smith to third man for four as the 100 came up in the 13
th over. Wallace celebrated by drilling Smith inside-out over extra cover for four followed by a deft ramp stroke for four against Bird.
With the total on 114, Wallace was well caught by Adam Wheater behind the stumps as he edged Berg. Craig Meschede joined Rudolph, who reverse-swept Berg for four before glancing Bird to the ropes at fine-leg followed next ball by a crisp on-drive to wide long-on. Next over Rudolph played a switch hit against Wood to extra-cover but on 77 he scooped a ball high in the air and was well caught by Wheater running back from the stumps.
136/6 saw Salter join Meschede who responded by drilling Wood for a pair of sixes to wide long-on before doing the same to Arafat's last ball of the 18
th over. He then hoisted Berg over long-on for a fourth maximum. Salter then holed out at deep mid-wicket before Smith twice flat-batted Wood through point in the final over as Glamorgan ended on 181/7.
Dean Cosker opened the bowling and conceded three singles before Michael Hogan yielded the same, plus a leg-side wide. Michael Carberry then drilled Meschede over extra cover for four and six from successive deliveries, before lofting Hogan twice over the head of cover and to the board at mid-wicket for further boundaries in the next over. James Vince then found the ropes as he lofted Cosker over wide mid-off for four.
Carberry then off-drove Cosker for four as the fifty came up in the 6
th over as Vince pulled Salter for a trio of fours. But in Salter's next over, and with the total on 69, Vince struck the spinner to deep mid-wicket where Cosker held a good low catch. Jimmy Adams joined Carberry as the pair then accumulated in singles with Ingram delivering a couple of accurate overs of leg-spin. The sequence of one's ended as Carberry pulled Salter for six over mid-wicket to complete a 32-ball fifty.
Rudolph then replaced Ingram at the Pavilion End and with his first delivery he had Adams l.b.w. as Hampshire slipped to 87/2 as Owais Shah joined Carberry. The pair continued to gather one's and two's as Glamorgan continued with an all-spin attack, and Carberry again ended the sequence by bringing up the hundred by biffing Cosker over long-off . But the wily veteran then ended Shah's stay as the umpire upheld an appeal with the total on 105.
Wheater joined Carberry with Hampshire needing 77 from 50 balls, but despite a pull for four against Smith, Hampshire's hopes took a dent as Carberry then pulled the young bowler into Rudolph's hands at deep mid-wicket. Smith and Wheater's task then became 61 from 30 balls, and in a bid to clear the ropes, Smith lofted Rudolph to Hogan at long-off.
Berg was more successful though against Ingram as he swept him for six, but even so, Hampshire's task was 44 from 18 balls as Hogan returned for the 18
th over. Berg failed to connect with the first two balls, before a trio of singles followed, plus a leg bye as Cosker bowled the penultimate over with the home side still requiring 40. The evergreen twirler conceded just six runs and with his final delivery had Wheater holing out at long-off.
The task of making 34 from Hogan's last over proved to be too stiff a task as Glamorgan won by 23 runs to maintain their quest of a quarter-final spot.