Glamorgan continued their fine one-day season with a 39-run victory over Warwickshire in the One-Day Cup semi-final at Sophia Gardens on Sunday.

The home side, who qualified directly for the semi-finals by virtue of topping Group B, fell to 44-4 from 14.3 overs thanks to a brilliant opening spell of 4-34 from all-rounder Ed Barnard.

Colin Ingram and Billy Root rallied, scoring 47 and 46 respectively, but where both dismissed before stamping their authority on the match. When Root was caught by Oliver Hannon-Dalby off the bowling of Michael Rae, Glamorgan were wobbling at 167-7.

Enter Dan Douthwaite and his six-hitting ability. The hard-hitting all-rounder struck four maximums in his 35-ball knock of 55 not out. He was joined ably by Timm van der Gugten (26) and Andy Gorvin (11) who held up one end ably to help their side reach a serviceable 247-9 from their 50 overs.

Warwickshire’s batting innings went the same way as Glamorgan’s, with Glammy’s opening duo of van der Gugten and Jamie McIlroy destroying the visiting top order, leaving them 57-5 from 16.5 overs.

When Douthwaite took the wicket of Kai Smith five runs later, the result looked beyond doubt. However, wicketkeeper Michael Burgess was still at the crease and, thanks to three sixes off Ingram’s part-time leggies, helped his side recover to within 100 runs of the target.

McIlroy returned for his second spell and took the key wicket, with Burgess finding the decisive Douthwaite in the outfield.

From there, wickets from Ben Kellaway’s wily spin and Gorvin’s military medium sealed the deal for Glamorgan, who will meet Somerset in the final at Trent Bridge on September 22nd.

Glamorgan 247-9 (50) beat Warwickshire 208 (46.1) by 37 runs.

Welsh Fire Fall At Final Hurdle

The standout side in the competition, Welsh Fire went into The Hundred finals day as slight favourites over their opponents London Spirit.

Tammy Beaumont’s side had beaten Heather Knight’s charge comfortably in the league stage of the competition, with West Indian overseas Hayley Matthews the star, scoring 76.

Indeed, much of the build up was about Welsh Fire’s trio of overseas stars, with Shabnim Ismail and Jess Jonassen also playing key roles in getting the Fire to a top of the table position and a place in the final.

Spirit won the toss, put Fire into bat and promptly removed Sophia Dunkley. Beaumont was joined by Matthews and steadied things somewhat. England international Sarah Glenn then broke the game Spirit’s way, removing Beaumont and her replacement, Sarah Bryce, in the space of three balls to leave the score at 32-3.

Jonassen was next in and put on a much-needed 52-run partnership with Matthews, before the West Indian captain was well caught by Georgia Redmayne and had to depart.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, but Jonassen persisted, ending on 54 from 41 balls to drag her side to a below-par score of 115-8.

Welsh Fire needed an early breakthrough, and they got it. Ismail ripped one through Meg Lanning’s flick to start things off, before Freya Davies had Cordelia Griffith caught behind.

Redmayne and Knight scored well, though, and Ismail was required again to break the partnership, again bowling Knight through the gate.

That brought Dani Gibson to the crease, who only lasted nine balls. Usually that means her contribution was small, but her score of 22 was enough to put Spirit firmly in the box seat before Ismail again broke the stumps.

Deepti Sharma was next in, and while there was still time for some late shenanigans with Redmayne and Freeborn dismissed, the Indian all-rounder’s six to win the title was a spectacular moment to end the tournament.

Welsh Fire have been much improved over the last two seasons, and with this year’s tournament not ending the way they would have liked, they will look back on this year as a successful one.

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