A run-laden stand of 132 in 9.3 overs for the second wicket by David Lloyd who made a career-best 97* and Colin Ingram (60)propelled Glamorgan to match winning total of 175/4 as they completed a 55-run victory under the DLS Method against the Kent Spitfires in their rain-affected contest in the NatWest T20 Blast at The SSE SWALEC, with Dale Steyn also taking 4/18 and Michael Hogan 3/12.
The Welsh county named an unchanged starting line-up with Jacques Rudolph and David Lloyd open ing the batting with dark clouds all around the Stadium and a curtain of rain descending from the direction of Caerphilly Mountain. As the precipitation began in the second over, Rudolph square-drove Matt Coles for four with the players leaving the field afterwards with Glamorgan on 10/0 after 1.5 overs. Four overs were duly lost from the quota as the game was reduced to a 16 overs contest.
Rudolph departed in the fourth over as he drove Mitch Claydon to mid-off. Colin Ingram announced his arrival by drilling the Australian over the head of cover as well as through point for a pair of rasping fours. He then launched David Griffiths high over extra cover for six before Lloyd twice cut Darren Stevens through backward point for four followed by a massive sweep over backward square-leg for six. He then pulled Fabian Cowdrey’s first ball for four followed by another huge sweep for six as Glamorgan reached 86/1 at the halfway stage.
Lloyd then drilled Cowdrey straight for six before Ingram drilled the spinner through the covers for four. He then harpooned the spinner for six over mid-wicket before Lloyd completed a 26-ball fifty with a coruscating cover drive. Ingram followed suit from 21 balls by pulling Coles for four, besides also bringing up the hundred stand. Lloyd then deposited Griffiths behind square-leg for six, followed by a pair of impish ramp shot for four to fine-leg.
Ingram then drilled James Tredwell straight for six before holing out at long-off. Lloyd responded by straight driving the spinner for a pair of rasping fours, before Chris Cooke holed out at cover. Lloyd then again cover drove Griffiths before Aneurin Donald was bowled in the final over by Claydon. Lloyd then added a couple of singles as he ended on 97 from 49 balls. The DLS calculations were then performed with Kent needing 177 to win.
Lloyd was swiftly back in the action as in Dale Steyn’s opening over he caught Daniel Bell-Drummond at mid-on with just a single on the board. Sam Northeast and Joe Denly then joined forces with the former scything Timm van der Gugten to third man for four followed by a pull to mid-wicket for four against Steyn, but the Springbok then bowled the visiting captain with his next delivery as Kent slipped to 17/2.
With Sam Billings as his new partner, Denly clubbed van der Gugten for a straight four, but next over Steyn claimed his third scalp as Billings miscued into Michael Hogan’s hands at cover as the Spitfires nosedived to 27/3. Denly responded by straight driving Craig Meschede for six before Denly flat-batted him for four through cover, but next over he miscued another expansive shot against Hogan and holed out at cover as Darren Stevens joined Alex Blake with 133 needed from 9.4 overs. The all-rounder responded by swatting Graham Wagg over point for six before Blake was nearly caught at long-off by Donald, but the Glamorgan seamers restricted the fifth wicket pair largely to just a series of singles as the asking rate soared.
The sequence ended as Blake swatted Wagg straight for six but even so, the requirement was 97 from 36 balls and van der Gugten returned to concede just two runs in his comeback over before bowling Stevens and next ball having Cowdrey l.b.w. Blake then pulled Ingram’s leg spin into Wagg’s hands on the mid-wicket boundary as they slipped further to 86/7.
Coles then swatted a couple of fours as Meschede returned at the River End, before harpooning Ingram for a six and four from successive balls, followed by another swipe for six. Even so, 61 were needed off 12 balls as Steyn returned for his final over and added a fourth wicket as Tredwell miscued to cover.
Hogan then polished things off in successive balls in the final over as Coles swatted to mid-wicket before the Australian re-arranged Clayden’s stumps as Glamorgan won by 55 runs under the DLS Method.