CRICKET

Glamorgan’s T20 Blast season is over for another year and captain Kiran Carlson has conceded they need to become more consistent.

The county finished the campaign bottom-but-one of the South Group, which was a hugely disappointing outcome for a team that won four out of their opening five matches.

Carlson’s side were unable to build on that excellent start and won only one more game from nine attempts.

The final defeat saw Glamorgan lose by 49 runs to Middlesex on Sunday, despite a fastest ever T20 half-century for the Welsh county by Carlson.

It means Glamorgan finished their T20 campaign in eighth place in the South Group – six points and four places short of making the knockout stages.

“It’s kind of been the story of our T20 season,” admitted Carlson.

“We’ve shown flashes of really good stuff but sometimes some really bad stuff as well. So, stuff to think about, and try and come back next year stronger and learn from it.

“I think they probably got 20 (runs) too many. I think it really hurt us that Peter Hatzoglou had to go off and couldn’t finish his four overs because he was really hard to play on that wicket.

“We felt like we were still in the game. Obviously with our batting line up, we back ourselves to chase anything.

“To be fair to Middlesex, they bowled really well, pegged us back, took a load of wickets, and it’s always going to be tough when you’re six or seven (wickets) down. It’s the way it goes.”

Glamorgan had looked to be romping to victory when they were 95 for 1 off 6.4 overs when Carlson was out for 77, scored off just 29 balls.

They were chasing Middlesex’s 200-9, but Ryan Higgins then took 3 for 20 with his seam bowling, including two wickets in two balls to change the momentum of the match.

HOCKEY

Wales coach Danny Newcombe voiced his frustration as his senior men’s team lost a three-match series, 2-1, away to Ireland.

Wales lost the final game 3-0 on Sunday in County Down, having won the opening match, 2-0, but lost the initiative with a 5-2 defeat on Saturday.

The matches were part of Wales’ preparations for the EuroHockey Championship later this month.

Newcombe said: “It was a pretty frustrating result again and mainly due to the pretty positive performance from the boys today. We played well but simply didn’t execute and made some naive decisions which cost us.

Wales co-captain Luke Hawker said: “I think the boys will quite naturally be disappointed with today’s result.

“I don’t think the scoreline reflects the performance we put in. But, there were certainly some errors and areas to sharpen up on as we move into our next challenge.”