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Glamorgan Beat Sussex In Last Ball T20 Thriller

Posted by Tom W from Cardiff - Published on 31/05/2014 at 18:42
1 comments » - Tagged as Culture, Sport & Leisure, Topical

  • BIB

Headlines:

  • Glamorgan beat Sussex on the last ball of the game
  • West Indies Captain, Darren Sammy scored winning runs on Glamorgan debut
  • Chris Cooke got Man of the Match on his birthday with 65 NO from 31 balls
  • Glamorgan won by 5 wickets
  • First of seven home T20 fixtures this season

In a carnival-like atmosphere at the SWALEC stadium last night, West Indies captain, Darren Sammy, scored the winning runs on the final ball of the match to set up a fairy tale Glamorgan debut. 

In a thrilling encounter at the home of Welsh cricket, Glamorgan sealed a famous win off the last ball of the last over, to make it two victories on the trot in the Natwest T20 Blast.

The win marks the end of a remarkable week for the only Welsh county in the competition, which saw them pull off the feat of signing the 30-year-old West Indian captain, Darren Sammy. Sammy worked with Glamorgan head coach, Toby Radford when the Windies won the World T20 in 2012 and demonstrated his match-winning skills last night by steering Glamorgan home in the last over.

But it was by no means an easy ride for the Welsh club, who were behind for the majority of the match. Sussex started solidly, with Luke Wright knocking two 6’s and a four to score 22 runs from his 16 balls at the crease. Probably Sussex’s most famous name, Matt Prior, yesterday returned from an Achilles problem to setup a fruitful partnership with Edmund Joyce, and they earned 39 runs apiece – the joint top-score for Sussex.

‘The stadium fell penetratingly silent’

Thanks to the experienced pair, Sussex were 79 for one with 10 overs played. However, in a dramatic turn, the Glamorgan captain, James Allenby, went on to take both of their wickets within five balls. This turned the game on its head. There was similar drama later in the innings, when Graham Wagg scalped both Rory Hamilton-Brown and Yasir Arafat with consecutive balls.

On the highly tense hat-trick ball, the stadium fell penetratingly silent and one could expressly feel the unbreakable focus of the bowler as he lined up his attack. However, it was the batsman who prevailed in this encounter, much to the disappointment of the excitable Glamorgan followers.

Sussex were without their England all-rounder ace, 25-year-old, Chris Jordan, who is playing the best cricket of his career at the moment in the ongoing five-match Royal London One-Day series against Sri Lanka. Named Man of the Match against Sri Lanka on Thursday for the second time of the series so far (which England are leading 2-1), you feel Jordan may have been the difference between the two sides if he’d been playing at the SWALEC last night.

‘It took Glamorgan a little while to get their 6’s going but they pulled them out the bag just at the right time.’

Glamorgan had a slow start at the crease and they soon had a big task on their hands. They needed 109 from 11 overs to win and this runs:overs ratio stayed reasonably consistent for a long while: they later needed 89 from 8, 76 from 7, 65 from 6, 37 from 4 and 29 from 3!

It took Glamorgan a little while to get their 6’s going but they pulled them out the bag just at the right time. In particular, Man of the Match, Cooke seemed to get a taste for the boundary and started knocking balls there for fun, earning his team 50 runs from 25 balls.

The other half-century of the game came from his Glamorgan teammate, Jacques Rudolph, who took 44 balls to reach the milestone. However, he wasn’t able to add to his tally and was soon sent walking with his respectable 50.

‘Audible edge-like sounds’

Piolet took two wickets for Sussex yet was unable to stop Glamorgan’s ascendency. There were also a couple of strong Sussex appeals in the latter stages of Glamorgan’s innings, which could have really disrupted their rise and flow.

Both appeals were cries of ‘edge’ and came with audible edge-like sounds that carried all the way to the stands, leaving the travelling Sussex fans screaming! However, it was unclear from where these sounds originated and they were not given by the officials. It just wasn’t meant to be; there was no stopping this freight train as it gained speed.

‘From the realms of ‘impossible’ to the beauties of ‘possible’.’

Thanks to Cooke’s emphatic finish(ing), the ratio was taken from the realms of ‘impossible’ to the beauties of ‘possible’. 18 from 12 balls needed, 9 from 9, 4 from 6… In fact, ‘possible’ was suddenly looking ‘likely’, especially in this big-hitting version of the sport, where fours fly and sixes sail all the time. All the pressure was piled on debutant Sammy who had to survive and somehow score during the bowling onslaught of the last over.

It was clear that Sussex had let this game slip at this point but they did manage to take the contest all the way to the last ball. Sammy’s rocket of a shot propelled upwards for an eternity, leaving Glamorgan time to run their dues, and came crashing down just out of the reach of a desperate, clutching, clambering fielder.

A near miss for Sammy, a fine win for ‘Glammy, Glammy, Glamorgan’, as the song says.

Sammy’s last shot handed Sussex their second defeat in a row and landed Glamorgan their second victory in a row. Oh, how fine the margins between success and failure can be in sport.  

‘A thoroughly satisfying evening’

Incredible scenes ensued, accompanied by all the noise of the capacity Millennium Stadium on match day. It was a raucous end to a carnival-like evening. It was not quite the slow, gentleman-y cricket of old, and we didn’t like it… we loved it!

Overall, the luscious Sophia Gardens, the hordes of carnival stores, the classic Welsh male voice choir, the army of willing and friendly volunteers, the perfect summer's evening and the perfectly-trimmed green lawn made for a thoroughly satisfying evening in the Green and Pleasant Land of Wales.

Glamorgan’s next home match is on Friday 13th June and tickets can be obtained here. I’d thoroughly recommend it. Not sure about T20 cricket? It’s worth a try. Balls do fly, runs do erupt and wickets do tumble left, right and centre… literally.

Glamorgan: James Allenby (C), Jacobus Rudolph, Mark Wallace (W), Murray Goodwin, Christopher Cooke, Ben Wright, Darren Sammy, Graham Wagg, Dean Cosker, Michael Hogan, Will Owen. 

Sussex: Luke Wright, Edmund Joyce (C), Matthew Prior (W), Michael Yardy, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Chris Nash, Ben Brown, Jonathan Lewis, Yasir Satti, Chris Liddle, Steffan Piolet.

Umpires: Jeremy Lloyds, Robert Robinson.

Toss: Glamorgan won the toss and elected to bowl.

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Media Credits: Panoramic - Joshua Thomas, Video - GlamorganCricketClub YouTube

1 CommentPost a comment

Sam Sprout (Editor)

Sam Sprout (Editor)

Commented 23 months ago - 2nd June 2014 - 09:31am

Great report on an excellent game. I thought Glammy had thrown it away with their slow start to the batting but Cooke absolutely smashed it about the place. Good stuff.

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