T20 Blast: Hampshire progress after hammering Glamorgan
- Published
T20 Blast, Hampshire v Glamorgan |
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Hampshire: 187-4 (13 overs): Short 69, Weatherley 43* |
Glamorgan: 184-4 (20 overs): Labuschagne 78, Lloyd 52; Wheal 3-39 |
Hampshire smashed their way to a remarkable six-wicket win over Glamorgan and their quarter-final places was confirmed after later games.
Knowing they had to reach their target of 185 in 14 overs, D'arcy Short hammered 69 off 30 as Hampshire raced home in only 13.
Joe Weatherley crashed 43 not out off 13 balls to seal it.
Glamorgan posted 184-4 thanks to 78 from Marnus Labuschagne and 52 from David Lloyd.
The result left Hampshire hoping that either Sussex or Gloucestershire would lose their evening games.
Gloucestershire did just that, losing by 23 runs against Somerset while Sussex triumphed over Kent.
It had seemed a creditable batting performance from a visiting side who had misfired badly for most of the competition.
Labuschagne and Lloyd opened up with a second-wicket stand of 92 in 9.2 overs with both men striking the ball ferociously, Lloyd clearing the ropes four times and Labuschagne hitting six sixes.
Colin Ingram (24) could not get going but Dan Douthwaite smashed 21 off 8 balls to take Glamorgan's run-rate up to 9.2.
But Short launched into all the Glamorgan bowlers with the fastest 50 ever scored against the Welsh county, in an incredible century stand with James Vince (39 off 21 balls) inside eight overs.
Short eventually holed out off the bowling of Andrew Salter for 69 off 30 balls including five sixes, but it was too late to change the result.
Weatherley came in and hammered four maximums himself, with the Glamorgan bowlers left shell-shocked as they crashed to their ninth loss in 12 games and finished bottom of the table.
Glamorgan were not helped by a hand injury to David Lloyd which saw him go off after spilling a difficult boundary chance, one of several missed by Glamorgan.
Lloyd had split the webbing on his right hand, but hoped it would not interfere with his campaign as the only Welshman in the Welsh Fire squad for the Hundred franchise tournament.
Hampshire batsman Joe Weatherley told BBC Radio Solent:
"It was brilliant, we arrived knowing we had a job to do but we've had a great couple of weeks in red-ball and white-ball cricket, and we're on a run.
"We thought chasing (batting second) was the right option for the net run-rate, to knock them off as quickly as possible, and we managed to get the job done.
"180 was more than we would have liked (to chase), but the analyst told us that 14.1 overs was the number (to overtake Surrey in the table), and it made it simple. Vince and D'arcy got us off to a brilliant start, and we just had to keep going.
"We've put so much in, because five or six games ago it would have been unbelievable to think we'd be in this position, but we've found the formula and it's been a real team effort."
Glamorgan coach Matthew Maynard told BBC Sport Wales:
"We've tried to make up for shortfalls this year by batting our two best batsmen out of position, Marnus and Lloydy have batted at four, and we should have stuck with our convictions.
"We lost a lot of confidence in the middle of the competition when Marnus was isolating, from a batting and bowling perspective.
"The season has not been good enough, the side is better than that on paper, and guys need to get clearer on their game-plans and execution. We've missed Colin (Ingram's form), he's a fine white-ball player, but he hasn't found his gears, and we know he'll come back stronger.
"I'm bitterly disappointed in the campaign, some of the players haven't been as consistent as they can be, and disappointed for our fans."