Glamorgan, champions of Wales

[cde]

Back home and we welcome Lancashire for the last FC match before the T20s begin. They are doing alright so far this year and with Babar Azam batting at 4 and James Anderson opening the bowling it could be tough. The pitch is bouncy with some spin and day three is overcast with some rain. Kennedy’s bowling has not been that great so he is replaced by Todd.

We lose the toss and are asked to bowl.

Sanderson and Foyle each take a wicket and they are 18-2 in no time. Jennings digs in but Azam smacks us to all parts. We just try to slow his scoring and concentrate on the other end. Jennings takes one from Todd on the shoulder and has to retire. A couple more quick wickets and once we tie Azam down he is bowled through the gate by Todd – not bad for his first wicket with us! 6-7-8 put up a fight but we bowl them for 205.

Porter and Selman put up a century partnership to kick us off. Porter falls 6 short of his first century of the season, Beasley hits another half century. Harrington is our for 4. We are eventually declare on 335-8 so we can make the most of the overcast conditions.

With a man short they have a mountain to climb. Livingstone puts up a battling 61 but they are bowled for 2 less than in the first innings.

We lose Porter and Harrington cheaply but knock off the runs for an easy win.

A convincing victory. My reluctance around Todd has been silly, his match figures are 5-104 at 2.93.

[cde]

We jump into a block of seven T20s. Gill has returned from the IPL, van der Gugten has picked up an injury, Jenkins and Waites are with England. I aim to field a more attacking batting line up, regardless of experience. The first match against Essex is on a turning wicket so we field:

S. Gill, J. Porter, D. Tulley, T. Beasley, C. Cooke, T. Nethercott, M. Ravichandrakumar, B.. Wadlan, M. de Lange, G. Kennedy and M. Foyle

Asked to bat first we post 163, 50s for Porter and Beasley, and bowl them for 123 for an easy win.

Next up is Surrey who gave us such a beating in last year’s final. We swap Faulkner and Ravichandrakumar. Asked to bat first we post a reasonable 177, 76 from Gill. They chase it down like it’s hardly there with half centuries for the opening pair of Roy and Koehler-Cadmore.

Gloucestershire next and the chance to Bol first. We roll them for 102, another half-century for Gill.

Sussex and another chance to bowl first. Salt hits a fine half century but the are out for 117. Another 67 for Gill.

Middlesex and asked to bowl first on a flat pitch we would have liked to bat on first. Gubbins hits a powerful 52 with help from Ingram and 22yo John Agnew on their way to 166. Gill and Cooke put some runs together but our 2-3-4 turn to mush and we collapse to 127 for our second defeat.

We get into a good position against Kent, bowling them for 92 in a shortened 18 overs, but our innings is washed out, match abandoned.

The last of the seven is against Somerset. Neither Porter of Faulkner have been doing badly but neither have they been doing well. They are replace dry Aaron Finch and Hudson-Prentice. We bowl first, Scott Steel scoring them a 50 and Seven Davies a good 40 on their way to 150-9. Finch hits 72 off 46 as we chase them down.

A decent return, the abandoned match a bit frustrating and Surrey looking invincible with 7 from 7 at the top of the table, is in 2nd.

[cde]

We break for a FC match, away to Warwickshire. The pitch has as much life and bounce as a second hand dog turd. Not expecting much here unless we win the toss and can build a substantial total quickly, even then this will be tough to get a result on, especially with Sanderson injured. We field:

Gill, Selman, Porter, Jenkins, Beasley, Cooke, Wadlan, van der Gugten, Todd, Kennedy, Foyle.

We lose the toss and are, of course, asked to bowl.

A century for Hain and a 50 for 19yo Ian Sutton but we don’t let anyone else get away. They still reac 352 though.

Cooke hits 92, van der Gugten a good 50 but the batsmen all seem to fall about the 40 mark except Jenkins. Motoring along nicely he manages to get one in the ribs off Ollie Stone and has to retire. We reach 422.

There is only a day to play so we go at them hard. We take wickets but Sutton hits another good innings and Will Rhodes adds 50 as they try to ride out for a draw. We get them all out with 155 wanted in about 16 overs.

We go for it and are looking good when Stone the hat-trick of Selman, Beasley and Cooke. A great bit of bowling since we are already a man down. It all but ends the run chase and ensures a draw.

Another almost match.

We are now an astonishing 2nd in the table. Surrey are having a great season but we are only one point behind. We are on 114 but Lancashire in 6th are on 90 – one good win – behind us. A tight, competitive field. We are certainly in with a chance here but we really could finish anywhere.

[cde]

Four more T20s against Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Surrey and Middlesex and we win all, bowing first each time.

We change a couple of players. Finch is away with Australia and Porter comes back in. Foyle has been so-so this season so in-form Sanderson replaces him. Gloucester set a decent 169-8 on a flat pitch, Sri Lankan Janith Rajaplaske taking us for 65. We chase it down, Gill falling just short of another 50 with Tullyand Cooke putting on 30s.

Since Hampshire have prepared a spinning pitch Ravichandrakumar replaces Hudson-Prentice and Waites Nethercott. We line up as:
Gill, Porter, Tully, Beasley, Waites, Cooke, Ravichandrakumar, Kennedy, Wadlan, de Lange and Sanderson. Nobody particularly shines for Hampshire and they only manage 152 on another flat pitch. This time Gill falls 2 short of a century as we chase the target down.

Surrey, who have given us two hidings in our past two meetings. They are without Roy but we are without Gill and Waites. The bowling balance just isn’t right, de Lange is doing well but his opening partners of Foyle, Faulkner and Sanderson have been lack-lustre. Wadlan has also been a bit flat. With Gill and Waites away we have a slightly new-look line up:
Porter, Tully, Lee, Beasley, Cooke, Nethercott, Faulkner, Ravichandrakumar, Kennedy, van der Gugten and de Lange. Van der Gugten will open with de Lange.

Their only absent big name is Roy but on a bouncier pitch we bowl first and have them for 112. Porter and Lee knock the runs off in less than 13 overs.

Middlesex get the same treatment, 110 all out. We try to collapse but still gather the runs.

[cde]

A FC match at home to Gloucestershire next. Gill, Iqbal and Waites are away, Jenkins injured. We also have a tough choice on who to leave out of the bowling attack. Porter and Selman will open. Despite misgivings Harrington plays three – his form is up and he is the intend no3 – and Lee 4. Lee is in great form in the T20s he has played and this is a chance for him to show he can do it in FC cricket too. The dilemma with the bowlers is that I need to leave out either Foyle, Todd, van der Gugten or Kennedy. Sanderson and Wadlan will certainly play. I decide that I can not leave out either Foyle or van der Gugten so it is between Todd’s pace and Kennedy’s control. I go for Todd.

We win the toss and bat first, the pitch bouncy with some spin and the forecast overcast for sessions on day two and three.

Porter, Harrington and Lee fall quickly and cheaply, Selman grinds out 28 from 120 balls with Beasley at the other end. It isn’t pretty but halts their momentum and sets up a 152 run partnership between Beasley (102) and Cooke (71). The tail hang around and push the score up to 301.

It is overcast as they take the field but Sanderson and Foyle can only squeeze one wick out of them. Todd and van der Gugten come in at the same time and devastate their batting, taking 5 wickets for 38 runs between them. Sanderson and Foyle return to finish them off for just 84 runs. With the next session overcast we enforce the follow on.

They dig in, Haines and Roderick making a decent 2nd wicket stand and Higgins a dogged 61 but we bowl them for 196.

We win by an innings and 21 runs after making just 301. We certainly have a bowling attack that can compete at this level if not the depth of batting.

[cde]

T20 against Essex, Iqbal returns but his form is still appalling. Tully has struggled, as has Beasley, but we make just the one change to the batting,, Lloyd for Tully. Kennedy is with Ireland so we bring in Todd.

Asked to bat first we put on 169-8, Lee’s 52 from 34 balls the backbone of our innings but Nethercott’s 41 from 17 the grand finale. We bowl them for 122

[cde]

Next we play another home FC match, this time against Durham who are just 8 points behind us. The upper middle order batting was a mess against Gloucester so I re-jig the batting. Warner replaces Harrington at three, Beasley moves up to four, Cooke to five and Nethercott to 6. The bowling remains the same.

We lose the toss and are asked to bowl, a bit of bounce in the pitch.

Two quick wickets before Steel and Vince (53) hang in and build a partnership. Another clatter if wickets and we have them 120-6. Behardien Raine (65) and Rashid Khan put together good partnerships and drag them to 266 all out.

We make a steady start but the 157 run partnership between Selman (128) and Beasley (66) turns things our way. A half century from Cooke, a career-best 88 from Wadlan and a decent 33 from Todd stretches us to 454.

Steel and Eckersley (66) put together a good 2nd wicket partnership but once it’s broken we work through them steadily, bowling them for 188 and winning the match by an innings and 7 runs.

Even better than the win against Bottom of the table Gloucester this win moves us into a strong position. Durham remain in 3rdd but we stretch our lead over them to 25 points and are just 6 behind leaders Surrey with a game in hand against them.

It is starting to feel like a fight for the title between us and Surrey, the rest of the table drifting away

[cde]

Two T20s to finish the group phase. Finch returns, Waites and Jenkins are away.

Off to Somerset where we are asked to bat first on a flat pitch with a little spin. We field:
Gill, Porter, Lee, Cooke, Nethercott, Ravichandrakumar, Wadlan, van der Gugten, de Lange and Foyle

We make a firm start but as we seek to accelerate we lose clumps of wickets and end up on 164-8, Gill stuck on 82 not out. It feels 20 runs off being comfortable. We do well enough, keeping the strike rate down and a few wickets. Van der Gugten is leaking runs but at least he takes four wickets. Ravichandrakumar takes no wickets and leaks 49 runs in 3 overs. They chase the target down with 5 balls to spare.

We then welcome Sussex and make a few changes, Finch for Porter, Todd for Ravichandrakumar. We bowl them for 102 then chase it down, Nethercott hitting a good 50.

We finish the group stage 10 from 14 with one match abandoned. We pip Surrey to the top spot by a point. A good campaign in terms of results but the team feels unsettled with key players sliding in and out of form.

[cde]

We have two young players sent for us to try out, batsman Alun Wynn-Jones and off-spinner Justin Tripuric. Neither are up to much.

[cde]

We go into the Challenge Trophy missing Jenkins, Waites, Cooke, Hudson-Prentice, Wadlan, de Lange and Remington. H-P is particularly galling since he was signed with The OD Trophy in mind. Kennedy is away with Ireland. The choices are limited with players I expected to play a big part – Tully and Beasley struggling with form. We do give Lee a start since he did well in the T20s when he came in. Bull will play because our only other spinner, Tipuric looks appalling. I am hoping the combination of Sanderson and Foyle opening will work as well as last year. I would like to play Todd, but he is injured.

We kick off against Essex and field Gill, Porter, Lee, Warner, Beasley, Nethercott, van der Gugten, Beard, Sanderson, Bull and Foyle. We are asked to bat first, Warner putting on 78 with 40s from Beasley and Beard to post 286-9. Nick Browne scores a FC style 50 as we bowl them for 174. Good way to start the campaign!

Next Somerset, who choose to bat first. Two teenagers, Nathan Pears on his debut and Pakistani batsman Azad Tanvir form the backbone of their innings of 248 all out. Gill scores a century and Porter 40 to set us up then Warner scores another 70 as we chase down the total with 3 overs and 5 wickets to spare.

Home to Gloucestershire. Lee is looking lost, replaced by Tully, Foyle is struggling and is replaced by Mills, van der Gugten opening the bowling with Sanderson. Asked to bat first we struggle to 203 all out. We bowl them for 150 in 45 overs.

Middlesex next and Harrington replaces Tulley. We bowl first and they make just 166 all out. Gill hits 80 for a very easy win.

Sussex next, Gill getting called up. Porter and Bradley’s form is on the slide. We bring in Iqbal despite his stinking form and field:
Iqbal, Lloyd, Harrington, Warner, Nethercott, Cullen, Mills, van der Gugten, Beard, Sanderson and Bull.
We put them in to bowl and they are out for 155. Iqbal manages just 2 but Lloyd and Harrington hit 50s.

Kent, who choose to bat first and are bowled for 169. With no pressure on Iqbal hits a steady century. Another easy win.

Surrey, who have been giving us trouble as of late. They put us in to bat, Iqbal hitting an unbeaten 160 off 154 balls but we can still only manage 241-7. Jeremy Lawlor hits a career-best 93 and Shahidullah a half century and they look sure to chase us down. We are taking wickets but it looks inevitable when Sanderson takes 4 quick ones and they are scrambling. It comes down to the final oversight just 1 run needed. Sanderson takes the wicket and the match is tied.

We finish off with Hampshire, who bat first. Tom Alsop hits a great career-best 159 to take them to 260 all out. Iqbal hits another century, Lloyd 71 but we are left scrabbling to reach the total in the last over.

A really good campaign. Beard is very much a OD player, Mills has really performed and Bull has come good despite my scepticism. The batting has been an issue with players fading in and out of form.

[cde]

Challenge Trophy Semi-final against Warwickshire, Cardiff


Pitch: bounce with some spin.

With some players starting to return from the 100 and Gill returning from international duty we have almost a full squad to pick from. It is hard to justify leaving anyone out of the bowling attack but we need to make room for de Lange so it is van der Gugten who goes. Cooke replaces Nethercott, who is out of form.

Glamorgan

S. Gill
D. Lloyd
H. Harrington
J. Warner
C. Cooke
T. Cullen
G. Mills
M. de Lange
A. Beard
B. Sanderson
K. Bull


Warwickshire

B. Rogers
I. Sutton
S. Hain
R. Yates
E. Pollock
M. Burgess
B. Green
C. Woakes
W. MacLeod
O. Stone
C. Miles

We win the toss and put them in to bat. Sutton and Hain put together a good stand of 89 but once we pride them out we get some quick wickets. Burgess rallies their lower-middle order but they can only manage 209-9

Gill falls one short of a century and despite a couple of attempts at collapse we chase down the target quite easily.

[cde]

T20 Quarter-final against Durham, Cardiff

Pitch bouncy with some spin.

A game we should win given our comparative results in the group stage but you never know. We include Lloyd, who is going well in the OD matches.

Glamorgan

S. Gill
D. Lloyd
S. Lee
D. Jenkins
C. Cooke
T. Nethercott
J. Faulkner
G. Kennedy
B. Wadlan
T. van der Gugten
M. de Lange


Durham

A Lees
R. Adamson
S. Fulcher
D. Miller
N. Eckersley
F. Behardien
J. Richardson
B. Carse
B. Raine
L. Trevaskis

We lose the toss and are asked to bowl first.

Barely a contest, they manage just 109-9 which we chase down with another half century for Gill.

[cde]

We have some FC matches next, the first of which is top of the table Surrey. They are just a few points ahead but we have a game in hand. A win either way would probably decide the championship. Our batting has some issues, Porter is injured, Harrington has been flopping at 3 and the other contender, Warner is in poor form. Waites returns to play at 5 but both Jenkins and Beasley are in poor form. Beasley has been flying in FC this year so we go for him. We field:

Gill, Selman, Warner, Beasley, Waites, Cooke, Wadlan, van der Gugten, Todd, Sanderson and Foyle.

Surrey field:

Burns, Barnwell, Koehler-Cadmore, Pope, Foakes, Roy, Kerr, S. Curran, T. Curran, Moss and Dunn.

We win the toss and bat first, the pitch showing a little spin.

They get Gill and Selman quickly so Warner and Beasley have to dig in a little. Their partnership is with 223 runs. Beasley was itching to get into them but Warner gave the impression he was going to get out any ball – 4 lbw appeals, 16 played and miss, 3 catchable shots. By the time they are both out the new ball has lost it’s shine and Waites, Cooke and Wadlan wade in, 192 runs in 40 overs taking us to 453.

They bat well, Burns falling 3 short of a half-century, Foakes 2 short of a century and Koehler-Cadmore 1 short of a double, but they still fall 23 short of our total.

We are just into day 4 and the pitch isn’t that bad so we go at them. Gill is 88 not out when we declare 198 ahead with just over a session to go. It feel like we have pushed it too far and left it a little too late but their batting has been formidable.

They go for it and are going well but a clatter if wickets and they are 94 runs adrift with 7 wickets and overs remaining before they drop anchor. Wadlan forces another wicket, 5 overs left. They play and miss, survive two LBW shouts and, most vitally, drop a catch with 3 overs remaining.

A draw, but given how many lives Warner had it’s hard to complain about the missed chances at the end. We are still in second place on 164 and they have extended their lead by a point to 170but we still have a game in hand. This draw keeps the pressure on both teams to hunt for the win in our remaining games

[cde]

We play Somerset next. Waites is called up and after some lip chewing Tully makes his FC debut at 5.
5.

A bouncy pitch with some spin, we win the toss and bat first.

Gill puts on 61 but the top order collapses like a lottery winner who’s lost their ticket. By the time Gill is out we are 103-4 but Tulley forges some partnerships with Cooke and Wadlan to at least get us a batting point.

Abel and Byrom put up an adequate opening partnership but Somerset try to prove that if we can do something they can do it better and implode to find themselves 106-8. Scott Steel and Jamie Overton drop anchor and grind out a partnership that takes them to 226 all out. Todd takes 5-76.

Two days left to play so Gill and .Selman are told to not get out and wear their bowlers down a little. They accumulate runs in the first session before picking up speed in the second, amassing a partnership of 215. We need to accelerate to give ourselves the time to bowl at them. We put our foot down but lose wickets. We rein in and eventually declare half way through the morning session on day 4 on 313-8.

If their first innings collapse was impressive then their second innings should win awards. Sanderson takes 5-13 as they melt for just 51 runs.

A good match with a limp ending it keeps us in contention by Surrey have extended their lead to 9 points but we still have a game in hand.

[cde]

T20 Semi-final against Sussex, Cardiff

Pitch: bouncy with some spin.

When at full strength Surrey’s batting is formidable at this level and is their strength. Ours is our bowling so this should be a tight contest. Across all formats this year our record against them is W2. L1. D1. T1.

Glamorgan

S. Gill
D. Lloyd
S. Lee
M. Waites
C. Cooke
T. Nethercott
J. Faulkner
G. Faulkner
B. Wadlan
T. van der Gugten
M. de Lange


Surrey

J. Roy
P. Nissanka
E. Morgan
O. Pope
T. Koehler-Cadmore
B. Flakes
W. Jacks
S. Curran
A. Moss
U. Shirwari
H. Herceg

We win the toss and put them in to bat.

We get Joy for 12, Nissanka leads with 37 off 28 but we contain and take wickets. They are running at just over 7 an over. Foakes accelerates but we quickly get him and contain them for a very gettable 145-9.

Gill and Lloyd get us going with a 47 run partnership. We are slowly pulling back the run rate and only losing the occasional wicket but two tight overs and we are looking for just over 8 an over. Waites picks up the pace but we are only just keeping up. The turning point comes in the 15th over when Waites and Nethercott take 20 from a Will Jacks over to get us well in front. We chase it down with two full overs to spare, Waites unbeaten on 54 from 35 balls.

A cracking win and third straight final.