T20 Blast: Glamorgan crush Northamptonshire at Sophia Gardens

Glamorgan youth products Prem Sisodiya (left) and Andrew Salter (right) had Northants in deep trouble early on

Glamorgan halted a run of four straight T20 defeats as they comprehensively outplayed Northamptonshire in Cardiff.

Batting first, the visitors never got going and limped to 98 all out as Timm van der Gugten and Prem Sisodiya took three wickets each.

After impressing with the ball, Glamorgan set about reaching their modest target at a brisk pace, with David Lloyd hitting a punchy 40.

Fellow opener Nick Selman contributed 28 as the hosts coasted to victory.

Such a convincing triumph was an excellent riposte to Glamorgan's recent struggles in this competition, whereas it was a second successive defeat for Northamptonshire.

With nine points from their seven matches, however, the Steelbacks remain on course for the T20 knockout stages, while Glamorgan have an outside chance with five points.

The hosts' success on this occasion was built on the foundation of their third best bowling performance in T20 cricket.

Northamptonshire lost both openers to spin in the first seven balls, Sisodiya trapping Richard Levi LBW for two before Andrew Salter had Ireland's Paul Stirling stumped for one.

The visitors' struggles continued when Glamorgan turned to their pace attack, as Van der Gugten accounted for Josh Cobb and Adam Rossington either side of a wicket for Ruaidhri Smith as Luke Procter played on and left Northants 39-5 after seven overs.

Alex Wakely and Tom Sole steadied the innings with a partnership of 31 but Sisodiya struck twice in one over to reduce the away side to 80-7, before Van der Gugten, Smith and Marchant de Lange claimed the final three wickets.

The paltry target never looked like testing Glamorgan, who raced past 50 inside six overs as Lloyd came out swinging with a series of powerful boundaries.

When Lloyd was caught and bowled by Cobb for 40 and Selman was stumped off White for 28, Glamorgan's run chase lost its momentum but they were always in total control as Callum Taylor and Andrew Balbirnie guided them to a seven-wicket win.

Glamorgan all-rounder David Lloyd told BBC Sport Wales:

"It's great to be back after a long lay-off (with a broken foot) and a frustrating year.

"Our bowlers bowled really well again with Prem and Salts up top and then the seamers doing their job in the middle as they have done all competition.

"It was just about being positive with the bat. I thought that if the ball was there, why not have a go, though I was frustrated at not carrying on to see the game out."

Glamorgan spinner Prem Sisodiya said:

"It was a good deck for us to bowl on, we all bowled well as a unit and it was nice for me to get a couple of poles as well.

"I'm just trying to keep my economy rate down, knowing what men to have out, having good game plans and sticking to what I do best, especially in the power-play overs."