Glamorgan rounded off their T20 campaign with a 35-run victory over the Kent Spitfires at Canterbury and in a contest which saw competition records being set and equalled by the Welsh county’s players. (writes Andrew Hignell)
With Glmaorgan on 94-5 in the 14th over, it looked as if the Spitfires were on top but the complexion of the contest was completely changed by a feisty stand of 95 off just 39 balls between Billy Root and Dan Douthwaite with the sixth wicket pair breaking the Club record, previously held by David Hemp and Ben Wright who had added an unbeaten 84 for the sixth wicket against Somerset at Taunton in 2007.
They were also aided by a trio of dropped catches in the deep, as well as a bizarre penultimate over from Matt Milnes which yielded 22 runs including six wides plus a full toss which Root smashed straight into the hands of deep extra cover only for the umpire to call, for the second time in the over, the delivery a no ball.
Douthwaite then added to the Spitfires blushes by harpooning Freddie Klaassen for a pair of massive sixes in the final over as the all-rounder completed a 22-ball fifty. As the list below shows, Douthwaite’s fifty was the fourth fastest overall and the quickest by a homegrown batter for the Welsh county in T20 cricket:
18 balls - Brendon McCullum v Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens, 2006 and James Franklin v Warwickshire at Edgbaston, 2006.
21 balls - Colin Ingram v Essex at Sophia Gardens, 2018.
22 balls - Dan Douthwaite v Kent at Canterbury, 2022.
23 balls - Colin Ingram v Essex at Chelmsford, 2017; David Lloyd v Middlesex at Sophia Gardens, 2022; Sam Northeast v Middlesex at Sophia Gardens, 2022.
24 balls - Tom Maynard v Essex at Chelmsford, 2010; Aneurin Donald v Hampshire at The SSE SWALEC, 2016; Chris Cooke v Essex at Chelmsford, 2018.
Sam Northeast also took his tally in this year’s competition to 510 runs – the fourth highest seasonal aggregate for Glamorgan in the short format and surpassed only by Mark Cosgrove (562 in 2010), Jim Allenby (548 in 2014) and Jacques Rudolph (543 in 2014).
During the Kent innings, Tom Bevan also equalled the Club record by taking three catches – the last of which ended the game as Matt Milnes holed out at long-on. The list below shows the other Glamorgan out-fielders to have taken three catches in a match:
Matthew Maynard v Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens, 2003
David Hemp v Somerset at Sophia Gardens, 2007
Stewart Walters v Hampshire at Sophia Gardens, 2014
David Miller v Surrey at The Kia Oval, 2017
Kiran Carlson v Somerset at Sophia Gardens, 2018
Billy Root v Gloucestershire at Sophia Gardens, 2019