Northamptonshire slipped to their second defeat of the competition as Glamorgan claimed victory with 29 balls to spare. The visitors were dismissed in 17.2 overs, which did little for their run rate, while Glamorgan produced their best performance to date.
After opting to bat first on a slow pitch, the visitors were soon in trouble, losing their prolific openers after just seven balls. Prem Sisodyia, who has been Glamorgan’s most effective bowler in the competition, trapped Richard Levi leg before with the fourth ball of the innings, then Paul Stirling overbalanced to his first ball from Andrew Salter and was stumped for a single.
Worse was to follow for the Steelbacks, as two more wickets fell to leave them struggling on 33 /4 after the power play.
Tom Sole, son of the former Scotland rugby captain David, was his team’s top scorer with 25, playing some inventive strokes, and of the ten fours struck in the innings, three came from his bat, including one scoop which almost carried all the way for six.
The five Glamorgan bowlers returned satisfactory figures, with Sisodyia and Van Der Gugten taking three apiece.
Needing to score at only five runs an over, Lloyd, playing in only his second game of the season because of injury, tucked in to Sanderson’s opening over, hitting him for three fours, before Nathan Buck was plundered for fifteen in his first.
There was little respite for the other bowlers as Selman struck Graeme White’s slow left arm spin into the River Taff at long-on, and Glamorgan’s openers were already half -way to their target-(52-0) at the end of the six over power play.
Both Steelbacks spinners, White and Cobb bowled accurately, taking a wicket apiece, conceding only thirty nine runs from their combined eight overs.
After sharing an opening partnership of 68 in only overs, Lloyd and Selman departed in quick succession. Lloyd, after a sprightly 40 from 29 balls, with a six and four fours, pushed an innocuous delivery back to Cobb, before Selman was stumped off White after scoring 29.
With fourteen runs required, Chris Cooke skied Gareth Berg to mid-on, but it made little difference to the outcome as the home team strolled to victory.