Glamorgan Metro Bank Cup at The Gnoll, Neath Loss 0 pts Report

 

NOTTS UNDONE IN WELSH FURNACE

Glamorgan gained a comfortable victory at hot and sultry Neath yesterday by 8 wickets with 27 balls to spare. An unbroken third wicket partnership of 170 in 28.4 overs between Ed Byrom (123* off 130 balls, 14x4, 3x6) and Colin Ingram (103* off 96 balls, 13x4, 3x6) seeing them over the line at 17:53.

Notts brought Tom Loten into the Eleven with Luke Fletcher rested. Sammy King after his exploits with Norfolk up in Newcastle returned to the squad but amazingly was still not in the Eleven. The struggling pair of Haynes and Montgomery retained their places.

Glamorgan won the toss and elected and bowl in front of a bumper crowd of over 2,000. The Gnoll is a bit of a cramped venue with the Rugby Ground of the Western side and the wooded Gnoll Country Park to the East. The toss proved yo be pivotal, the pitch had sweated and with the first 50 minutes of the match played in heavy humid cloudy conditions it aided the seamers. Once the sun burst through around noon batting became much easier.

Van der Gugten (Oakwood Road) and McIlroy (Dyfed Road End) opened the bowling and Notts found run scoring difficult. In the 4th over, Slater was caught by Bevan at second slip off McIlroy for a 9-ball one; 5 for 1. After struggling for ten balls, Haynes made it four ducks in a row, making it an Audi. Umpire Anthony Harris thought he got a very faint tickle to keeper Smale off a legside delivery McIlroy; 5 for 2 off 6 overs. Haynes trudged off clearly unhappy with the very questionable decision.

McCann got three successive boundaries off van der Gugten, two through the covers and the third a fortuitous one edging the ball passed the diving Smale; 14 off the 7th over. Hameed drove the last ball of the powerplay to the point ropes. Notts 23 for 2 off 10 overs.

The ambidextrous off-spinner Kellaway replaced van der Gugten (6 3 16 0) from the Oakwood Drive End). McIlroy (6 3 11 2) made way the following over for Douthwaite. Notts barely moving on 29-2 after 13 overs, 14 of which had come off one over.

The sun suddenly burst through in the 14th over with Douthwaite overpitching and Hameed cover driving him for four. The rest of the contest was played in very hot conditions. An edged four through third man by McCann off Douthwaite took Notts to three an over in the 16th over. Notts reached 50 in the 18th over via a no ball from Douthwaite. McCann swept Kellaway for two fours in the 19th, a reverse and conventional one. Ingram was introduced for the 20th over and a full toss was dispatched to the mid-wicket ropes by Hameed. Notts 70 for 2 after 20 overs.

Hameed hit Ingram (2-0-22-0) for 6 (over mid-wicket) and 4 off successive balls; 15 off the 22nd over. In the 23rd over McCann (48 off 73 balls, 8X4) was controversially given out caught behind by off Gorvin in the 23rd over; 91 for 3. The ball appeared to hit the left-hander on the boot and Smale caught the ball running towards the offside. Umpire Widdup initially did not give the decision but after consulting the square leg umpire Harris the finger was raised, much to everyone’s surprise. McCann had batted excellently seeing after the initial trying conditions. The two inexperienced umpires not having the best of days. McCann and Hameed stand for the 3rd wicket amounted to 86 off 17 overs.

Five overs later, the struggling Montgomery (9 off 17 balls) edged a delivery from Douthwaite which lifted to Smale, 111 for 4. Montgomery has hardly scored a run in all forms of cricket in 2024.

Kellaway (8-1-51-0), who returned in the 29th over, started bowling left arm to Hameed and right arm to Moores. In the 31st over which went for 11 runs, Moores hit him for 6 over mid-wicket. In the following over, Moores hit Douthwaite for two boundaries which cost 12 with Notts reaching 150. Van der Gugten (10 3 30 1) returned for his final two overs in the 33rd over. Moores lofted him for four in his last over.

Hameed was dropped on 68 by Bevan at mid-wicket off Douthwaite in the 37th over. Moores hit Douthwaite for a straight six later in the over which went for 11. Moores (37 off 28 balls, 5x4, 2x6) got two successive boundaries off Gorvin in the 38th over, one a streaky one through third man. But he fell in the same over caught at extra cover by skipper Carlson, 179 for 5. Notts 193 for 5 off 40 overs. This was Moores’ highest score for Notts first team in over 12 months cricket. The left-hander clearly benefiting from the weaker attacks on show in this competition. The fifth stand between Hameed and Moores added 68 in 10 overs.

Notts reached 200 in the 42nd over via single for Hameed off Gorvin. Hameed (89 off 109 balls, 9x4, 1x6) was caught at long off by Bevan off Gorvin; 219 for 6 off 44 overs. Hameed had timed the ball well and anchored Notts innings, but he is not a batsman who can force the pace. Notts desperately needed acceleration in the dying embers of their innings.

McIlroy returned and Patterson-White deposited him for six over square leg. Patterson-White hit Gorvin for 6 over long off, fielder Bevan stepping over the rope whilst “taking” the catch; shades of Roger Davies at St Helens in 1968. James (3) departed caught in the covers by Kellaway off Gorvin; 237 for 7 in the 46th over. Hutton hit Douthwaite for 4 through mid-wicket and then a six over square leg; 12 off the 47th over. Patterson-White (36 off 29 balls, 3x4, 2x6) holed out to Bevan at long off, Gorvin (10 0 56 5) the bowler. Gorvin picking up late wickets in the slog. Notts 250 for 8 in the 48th over. Hutton (13) was caught on the point ropes by Gorvin off the expensive Douthwaite (10-0-77-2), 258 for 9 in the 49th over. McIlroy (10-3-33-2) conceded nine off the over. Notts 274 for 9 off 50 overs with Loten on 14 and Pettman on 9. A score that looked well under par. Notts struggling in the first hour under bowler helpful conditions and not aided by two poor umpiring decisions.

Byrom hit Pettman (Oakwood Road) for four in the opening over. Byrom hit Hutton for 6 over square leg in the second over. Loten came on for the 5th over and conceded 10 off the 7th over with two fours to Byrom. Pettman switching ends replaced Hutton for the 8th over. Smale was dropped on 10. Smale mistiming a pull shot off Pettman the ball gently falling to Hameed who dropped an absolute sitter at mid-off. This missed chance symbolic of a poor Notts fielding display, with too many fumbles, misfields and overthrows. Conditions not easy for fielding, this was the hottest day of the season.

Hutton changed to the Oakwood Road End for the 9th over. Byrom reached 50 off 37 balls with successive boundaries off Pettman. Glamorgan 63 for 0 off 10 overs and well on the way to victory.

Smale hit two boundaries off three balls off Hutton, 10 off the 11th over. Hutton (5-0-30-0), the hero four days previously, was not given another bowl.

Notts made a double bowling change for the 12th and 13 over with Patterson-White and James coming on. James conceded 10 off the 15th, boundaries to both batsmen. A swept four by Smale (37 off 40 balls, 7x4) off Patterson-White took Glamorgan past three figures but he fell next ball caught in the covers by James off Patterson-White, 103 for 1 in the 16th over. Carlson (2) was caught behind by Moores off James, 108 for 2 in the 17th over. Glamorgan reached 122 for 2 off 20 overs.

Ingram hit James for a massive six over mid-wicket in the 23rd over. Loten bowled a maiden for the 24th over. McCann came on for the 25th over, Glamorgan reaching 150 in his second over. Pettman (5-0-32-0) returned for a solitary over (30th) and conceded seven.

Byrom reverse swept McCann for 6 over backward point twice in the 31st over. Montgomery came in the 33rd over and Ingram hit him for six over square leg. Ingram got to his 50 off 56 balls in the 34th over with four through mid-wicket off Patterson-White. Byrom hit Patterson-White (8-0-40-1) for four through mid-wicket to bring up his 100 off 105 balls in the 36th over. The big crowd started heading for the exits knowing their home team were now guaranteed a certain victory. James (8-0-50-1) conceded nine in the 37th over and made way for McCann.

Loten (8-1-36-0) replaced Montgomery (3-0-22-0) for the 42nd over, Ingram straight driving him for 4. Loten had bent his back in trying conditions. The best bowler for Notts on the day.

Byrom hit McCann (8-0-49-0) for 6 over mid-wicket for the 45th over. Slater, became the 8th bowler to bowl, coming on for the 46th over but he only bowled three balls. The vastly experienced Ingram hit three successive boundaries to both to win the game for Glamorgan and bringing up his own classy ton off 96 balls. The comfortable victory put Glamorgan top of the section, Notts remain third but only because they have played one more game than the other 8 teams. They head to Guildford on Sunday to face bottom of the table. Woodbridge Road having tiny boundaries, the match sure to be a slogfest. The coach has to finally remove his head from the sand and play King. Notts desperately short of big hitters. MAG

To the ten remaining of the eleven that won against Yorkshire, Tom Loten comes in at Neath.

SQUAD

Luke Fletcher is rested and Sammy King returns from his game with Norfolk.

Squad :

10 that beat Yorkshire plus...

Ben Slater

Freddie McCann

Jack Haynes

Haseeb Hameed

Matt Montgomery

Lyndon James

Tom Moores

Liam Patterson-White

Brett Hutton

Toby Pettman

plus

Farhan Ahmed

James Hayes

Rob Lord

Tom Loten

Ben Martindale

Sammy King

Preview

WHAT'S ONE MORE EH!

A long, long journey to Neath but will Sammy King join the squad after the NCA Championship game at Jesmond finished in two days? An even longer journey from Northumberland...

With all the positives to take away from Welbeck, we're still left with persistant nagging doubts about the form this season of a few of our batsmen.

We had a bespoke game plan for Welbeck, but I doubt that that will fit well at The Gnoll; our head coach will know best, rest assured. Bouyed by his massive 23 runs on Sunday, Thomas will probably be batting at 3.

Are the coach's plans ready for:

Ambidextrous county spinner takes two wickets - one with each arm.
Will Macpherson.
London Daily Telegraph.
Monday, 29 July 2024.
PTG 4575-22062. 

Glamorgan’s Ben Kellaway took wickets bowling with both his right and left arms in his team’s England and Wales Cricket Board One-Day Cup game against Surrey at The Oval on Sunday.  Kellaway’s default style of bowling is right-arm off-spin, but he has been working on his left-arm orthodox and has recently trialled it in the Glamorgan second XI.  He unfurled it in the first team on Sunday.

Kellaway bowled Surrey’s Conor McKerr, a right-hander, bowling left-arm round the wicket, before picking up last man Matt Dunn, a left-hander, bowling right-arm off-spin from round the wicket, Dunn being given out LBW by List A debutant Casper Viljoen.

Such skill is rare. Kellaway, 20, is thought to be the first bowler in 44 years to take wickets with both arms in a county game, since Kent’s Charles Rowe in 1980, while Sri Lankan spinner Kamindu Mendis has bowled with both arms in international cricket (PTG 4574-22058, 29 July 2024).

“It’s been in the works for a while”, said Kellaway. “I’ve worked hard on it this winter, and it’s nice to have the opportunity and the backing from my teams-mates and the coaching staff to actually bring it out and express my skills. It’s nice that it came off”.  His bowling statistics for the game were 7-0-16-2.