T20 Blast: Colin Ingram leads Glamorgan to rapid win over Kent

Colin Ingram made his first appearance for Glamorgan in 2015

Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke saw Glamorgan to victory for the second time in three days as they made short work of a target of 190.

Ingram's 63 not out off 32 balls was the main contribution while Cooke hit 46 off 28 in their stand of 109.

Tawanda Muyeye top-scored with 62 in Kent's decent-looking total of 189-6, Jordan Cox was next highest with 35.

But Glamorgan eased home at 190-3 with three overs to spare to the delight of the home crowd at Sophia Gardens.

Zimbabwe-born Muyeye and Daniel Bell-Drummond got the visitors off to a flyer after they were put in, with 63 coming in the powerplay overs as they went after debutant Zain Ul Hassan.

Australian leg-spinner Peter Hatzoglou made the breakthrough, bowling Bell-Drummond for 19, but Muyeye scorched to his 50 off just 29 balls.

But three wickets fell in the space of ten balls as Joe Denly (10), Sam Billings (1) and Muyeye (62) all skied catches, spinner Prem Sisodiya claiming 2-30 in his four over spell.

Jordan Cox took over the helm from Muyeye, helped by Kiran Carlson missing two lofted catches in successive balls.

But he swung Hatzoglou to mid-wicket for 35 off 27 as the Perth Scorchers leggie showed the value of his short-term signing as a replacement for paceman Michael Neser.

Glamorgan were also off to a scorching start courtesy of Ed Byrom, given the licence to hit at the top of the order and striking three 6s and five 4s in facing just 19 deliveries.

But he drilled Grant Stewart to mid-on and Michael Hogan, bowling as tightly as ever against his old county, had former Kent favourite Sam Northeast caught at long-off for 16 as he tried to accelerate.

A brilliant catch by Wes Agar saw the back of Kiran Carlson for 16, again off Stewart.

But Ingram and Cooke, who added 187 together against Middlesex two days earlier, were quickly into their stride.

Ingram, the 37 year old former South Africa international, raced to a classy half-century off just 24 balls.

The confidence showed as Glamorgan's two experienced batters seemed to be picking their spots on the boundary with a seven-man Kent attack unable to stem to flow.

Hogan's four overs went for just 27 but from 105-3 at half-way, Kent needed wickets and could not get them as they suffered their third defeat in four.

Glamorgan travel to face Sussex on Sunday 4 June, with only a slim chance that paceman Neser will be released by Australia, while Kent host Surrey on the same date.

Glamorgan coach Mark Alleyne told BBC Sport Wales:

"Chasing 190 is never an easy task in any conditions in any stadium but I thought we did a fantastic job, Eddie Byrom got us off to a flyer and the partnership between Chris and Colin was stunning batting.

"You don't see it that often where two guys play a record partnership the game before and then repeat it again the very next game.

"What we have said to the players is that they have no restrictions, we don't deal in par scores, we're playing to broaden our personal and team envelopes. I hope we can continue to express ourselves over the tournament and set new standards."

Batter Colin Ingram said:

"I chatted with Chris before the game and we hit the ball so well in the last game that we could invest in a few balls to get back in again.

"But we could feel the juices again and it flowed really nicely so it was great to kick on again, especially in our first home game with an awesome crowd in, the sun shining, and to get a win like that was fantastic.

"There was a little extra grass left on the wicket and it skidded through nicely, so a fantastic job by the ground staff and the outfield was in immaculate condition, it was like a carpet.

"I've worked incredibly hard, last year and even the year before, I wasn't quite at my best (in T20) and it's taken a lot of work to get back here, so I just want to wrap this form up in a bubble and move it onto the next show. The last couple of years have been a bit of a tough experience, so to feel that good tonight was really cool."

Kent coach Matt Walker told BBC Radio Kent:

"The first half, we felt it was a pretty good score, we felt 189 was above par since 164 is a winning score on average here in T20. Tawanda was outstanding at the top but there wasn't much else, a few cameos.

"But if we bowl like that, 189 is nowhere near enough, it was poor. We didn't get our plans right, our lengths right, and made it very easy for them. We bowled too wide and weren't able to create any pressure apart from Michael Hogan bowling pretty well and I don't think they broke sweat in that run-chase.

"The bottom line is, it wasn't up to scratch and if we want to do anything in this competition we've got to get better very quickly, we've got to step up collectively."