An unbeaten 70 from 43 balls by Colin Ingram, plus 3/17 by Craig Meschede and some outstanding ground fielding saw Glamorgan clinch a place at T20 Finals Day as they overwhelmed the Leicestershire Foxes by nine wickets in their NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final contest on an emotional evening at The SSE SWALEC.
Last night Hampshire, who recorded home and away wins against the Welsh county in the group stages, became the first team to book their place at Finals Day on September as they beat the Derbyshire Falcons by 101 runs thanks to a maiden T20 hundred from Shahid Afridi.
Glamorgan also had their eyes on another match yesterday, albeit in the Southern Hemisphere with David Miller playing for South Africa A in their game against their counterparts from India. But since mid-afternoon yesterday, the batsman has travelled by airplane and car from Potchefstrom to Cardiff and was in the line-up, in place of Nick Selman from the side which defeated Middlesex on Friday evening by seven wickets.
Luke Ronchi and Cameron Delport opened the batting when play began following a moving tribute to Don Shepherd with both teams joining in with a minute’s appreciation of the legendary bowler’s efforts. Ronchi began in expansive mode drilling Marchant de Lange to mid-on for two before clipping a free-hit to the mid-wicket ropes. Cameron Delport also lofted Hogan to long-on for four before deftly guiding the next delivery to third man for four and then carving de Lange to third man for another boundary.
But with the total on 28, de Lange bowled Delport as Mark Cosgrove made his way to the middle to join Ronchi who straight drove Hogan for four and six in the next over, which also saw Cosgrove pulling a ball for four. But Ronchi’s innings was ended by Wagg as he re-arranged the batsman’s stumps with the total on 49. Colin Ackermann began by sweeping Andrew Salter for six but next over he also departed with the total on 57, as he pulled Craig Meschede to mid-wicket where Aneurin Donald held a good running catch.
Ned Eckersley gained two fours to third man against Colin Ingram and Meschede, but the latter gained the prized wicket of Cosgrove next over as he played onto his stumps. 74/4 saw Aadil Ali join Eckersley as the boundaries dried up through the parsimony of the Glamorgan bowlers and in a bid to complete a cheeky second run Ali was smartly run out by Carlson/
87/5 then became 90/6 as Eckersley swatted Meschede to Hogan at short third man, before four runs later Tom Wells tamely chipped a ball straight back to Ingram. The wickets continued to tumble as the Foxes slipped to 98/8 as Matt Pillans fended a short ball from de Lange onto his stumps. Four runs later the ninth wicket fell as Donald took his second smart catch as McKay holed out at deep extra-cover off Hogan
Callum Parkinson and Gavin Griffiths then scampered a series of singles in the closing overs in a bid to eke out a defendable total, but with no boundaries from the 10th until the penultimate over, when Griffiths pulled Hogan for six, Glamorgan retained a vice-like grip on the run rate. Their innings was duly ended by Wagg who bowled Griffiths with the second ball of the final over leaving Glamorgan with a target of 124 to reach Finals Day.
Donald began with a firm cover drive against McKay before chipping him over mid-wicket for another two, but he then drilled the last ball of the over straight to mid-off as Glamorgan lost their first wicket on 5. Ingram joined Rudolph and struck the first boundary as he swept Aadil Ali for four before lofting the off-spinner over long-off for another boundary.
Ingram then harpooned Griffiths’ first ball for six over backward square-leg before scything Pillans for four to third man. On 25 he also survived a chance at short third man as McKay spilled a chance off Delport’s first delivery before celebrating his good fortune by hoisting the medium-pacer over long-on for six.
With Rudolph quietly pushing the ball around for a series of singles, the Glamorgan fifty came up in the 8th over with the captain then drilling Griffiths for a trio of fours to long-on, extra cover and backward point as “Calon Lan” and “Delilah” echoed around the Stadium. He then cover drove McKay for four before Rudolph hoisted Pillans over deep fine-leg for another huge six. Rudolph then laconically reverse-swept Ackerman for four before Ingram completed his 50 from 38 balls.
He then launched Tom Wells’ first delivery over the National Cricket Centre for a massive six, before pulling the second over deep fine-leg for another maximum. The next ball disappeared through backward point for four. A no-ball then followed before Ingramm ended the game by pulling the next delivery to square-leg for four as Glamorgan cantered to a nine-wicket victory with 38 balls to spare. On a night which began with a moving tribute and minute’s applause for Don Shepherd, this was a performance with bat, ball and in the field, which would have made the Glamorgan legend very proud.