Douthwaite leads Glamorgan to final as Bears fall short

Dan Douthwaite top-scored for Glamorgan with an unbeaten 55 off 35 balls

Glamorgan 247-9 (50 overs): Douthwaite 55*; Barnard 4-34

Warwickshire 208 (46.1 overs): Burgess 85; McIlroy 3-42

Glamorgan beat Warwickshire by 39 runs

Scorecard

Dan Douthwaite blasted a vital 55 not out and took 2-37 as Glamorgan beat Warwickshire by 39 runs to earn a One-Day Cup final against Somerset.

Glamorgan fought back from 44-4 in the 15th over to reach 247-9, after Warwickshire captain Ed Barnard claimed the first four wickets.

The Glamorgan seamers piled on the pressure in turn, but Michael Burgess’s 85 off 94 balls kept the Bears in the game.

They had left themselves with too much to do as Glamorgan closed out the game to the delight of the home crowd at Sophia Gardens.

Barnard set the tone early on for his depleted squad as he found enough movement to find the edge of the bat, sending Glamorgan reeling at 44-4 in the 15th over with three slip catches snaffled by Rob Yates.

He spilled a fourth chance to get rid of Colin Ingram early, with the South African making 47 off 53 balls to get the innings off the launchpad.

With Barnard’s tall fellow seamers Olly Hannon-Dalby (1-46) and Michael Rae (2-35) bowling tightly, Glamorgan found it difficult to increase the run-rate through the middle of the innings as Billy Root battled to a worthwhile 46.

Ben Kellaway (23) and Timm van der Gugten (26) chipped in useful runs before the late onslaught from Douthwaite, who clubbed four sixes in the last two overs of the innings to give the home side reasons to be cheerful.

The Glamorgan momentum continued into the first part of the Warwickshire innings, as the reliable opening pair of Van der Gugten and Jamie McIlroy claimed two wickets each to have the Bears trapped at 37-4.

The used pitch was starting to play up, with the Welsh support applauding even dot balls as Douthwaite took two middle-order wickets. Teenager Kai Smith was unable to repeat the heroics of two days previously, when he hit 130 not out in the quarter-final win over Worcestershire.

But any visions of an early finish were quashed by Burgess, who started cautiously but blasted three sixes in a row to move past 50 and get the visitors back in the hunt as he dominated the stand of 87 with Jake Lintott.

Warwickshire hopes flickered back into life but there was too much to do as Burgess skied McIlroy to mid-off for that man Douthwaite to hang on, before Lintott (26) top-edged a reverse sweep off Kellaway.

After some late blows from Michael Booth (35), it was appropriately Douthwaite who clung on to his second high catch and seal the result as Welsh supporters started making plans for Trent Bridge, where Glamorgan won the trophy in 2021.

Glamorgan all-rounder Dan Douthwaite told BBC Sport Wales:

“At 44-4 I wasn’t thinking about [the final at] Trent Bridge, but Colin and Billy set us up beautifully in really tough conditions against a strong Warwickshire attack to load us up and give us half a chance in the back 10 [overs].

“For the last five overs it was nice for me to get a few out of the middle and to come off finally when it mattered.

“It’s a first [final] for me and I’m really excited about that, I was in The Hundred in 2021 and didn’t play in the [One-Day Cup] final but watching my mates win it was still a highlight for me, so it’s a great feeling after a home semi-final at a fairly packed Sophia Gardens.”

Glamorgan captain Kiran Carlson added:

“Dan got us to a really nice total, then Timm and Macca (McIlroy) did what they’ve done all year and put the pressure on them.

“The seamers have pretty much won us all our games, all four of them have chipped in at different times. It feels weirdly similar to 2021 in terms of the group games, and we’ve really enjoyed it as a group.

“Somerset will be a good team regardless [of who’s selected], but we want to beat the best teams out there to lift the trophy. It galvanises fans and players alike.”

Warwickshire captain Ed Barnard said:

"It did a little bit with the new ball and both teams lost a few early wickets, which makes the game tough. Chasing a score like that never helps and we just didn't play good enough cricket.

"It's disappointing not to get through to the final. We probably took our foot off the gas toward the back end of their innings and Dan Douthwaite hit the ball better than anyone on the day.”