Mcllroy impressive but Glamorgan defeated by Essex

Glamorgan 175-6 (20 overs): Carlson 43, van der Gugten 33; Harmer 2-43.
Essex 177-6- (16 overs): Khushi 61, Walter 43, Sams 41; Mcllroy 4-36.
Essex (2pts) won by 4 wickets

Despite taking a career-best 4-36 in the competition, Mcllroy feels a target of 176 was always going to be a tough ask to protect as home-grown Essex opener Feroze Khushi’s half-century and 40’s from Paul Walter and Daniel Sams saw the South-East County home.

With games coming thick and fast for Mark Alleyne’s side the Welsh county will now look to bounce back quickly against Gloucestershire on Sunday in the ‘Battle of the Bridge’ to reignite hopes of a top-four finish in the southern section of the group standings.

After being victorious in the reverse fixture at Sophia Gardens last weekend, Essex came into the game full of confidence with four wins on the bounce. 

Glamorgan’s injury-ravaged side would once again be limited on options still missing batsman David Lloyd, Eddie Byrom and all-rounder Dan Douthwaite to face the side team lying fourth in the table, whilst strike bowler Micheal Nesser’s international involvement with Australia means his involvement will be minimal in the competition.

Nevertheless, the spirit is still strong in the squad and despite defeat, Glamorgan will enter their next match in Cardiff just two points off Hampshire in the final quarter-final qualification placing.

The Welsh side started positively reaching their 50 in the first five overs of the powerplay. Captain Kiran Carlson’s rapid 43 off 25 balls, playing a large part in an opening stand of 54 with Sam Northeast. 

The loss of the opening pair and inform South African Colin Ingram in a damaging three-over spell however broke Glamorgan’s rhythm as the away side struggled to build partnerships.  

Billy Root and Chris Cooke steadied the ship bedding themselves into the middle part of the innings with a stand of 41. Once Cooke (27), however, was caught in the deep by Paul Walter for his third catch of the innings to captain Simon Harmer, Glamorgan’s run rate faltered as they struggled on a batting-friendly pitch with short boundaries.

Timm van der Gugten bludgeoned 33 off 14 balls late on with three giant sixes and two fours to help pose a late rally of respectability to the scoreboard, but Glamorgan’s total would always be a total hard to defend.

Mcllroy gave the Welsh side hope with three early strikes in his opening two-over spell removing Robin Das, Micheal Pepper and Josh Rymell. It would be Walter though once again to come back to haunt Glamorgan as the all-rounder’s 43 off 21 balls, supported by Khushi’s anchoring innings in a stand of 80 proved to be enough to take the game away from the visitors with Sams (41) late hitting sealing the victory with four overs to spare.

“I think here you need to be looking at 210/220 as it flies away off the pitch here, it’s quite a small ground so it is hard to defend under 200,” said Mcllroy after the match.

“It was nice to pick up some early wickets. They played well though and hit the ball cleanly. It is hard to defend when they hit the ball like that.

“You always have hope when you get a few early wickets and try and swing the momentum. I felt at one point it was going to go our way and then they got hold of a few and played well in the middle part.

“It is always nice personally to get wickets, but obviously the loss takes that away. I would rather win and take one than lose and take four.

“The schedule is quite busy. There are a lot of boys who have bowled a lot of overs this year and are travelling up and down the country. 

“Six hours in a car down here from a Championship game against Durham was not ideal. We’re back tomorrow and then back to London and then back home for another game. It’s pretty tiring but we’re doing the best we can with what we have.”

(Lead image: Glamorgan CC)