Glamorgan thoroughly outplayed the Leicestershire Foxes in their Yorkshire Bank40 match at Swansea as 85 from Chris Cooke, 50 by Mark Wallace plus a quick-fire 48 off 19 balls laid the foundations for an emphatic victory by 68 runs the Welsh county moved back into second place in the Group table to maintain their quest of a place in the semi-finals of the competition.
The Welsh county made one change to their side from the one which lost off the penultimate ball to Gloucestershire at Bristol last Sunday, with Andrew Salter replacing Simon Jones, with Gareth Rees and Mark Wallace opening the batting against the Foxes side who lost last week against the Unicorns. Josh Cobb duly opened the bowling with Rees drilling the spinner straight for four before cutting him for another boundary. Wallace also scythed Nathan Buck's first ball to the point boundary before doing the same to Rob Taylor's opening delivery, as well as his final ball of his first over as Glamorgan made a breezy start.
Wallace struck Taylor again behind square for four before lofting him for six over long-on, whilst Rees maintained the tempo by drilling Buck through extra cover for four before Wallace brought up the fifty stand with a deft leg-glance against Ben Raine followed by a fierce cover drive as Glamorgan reached 60/0 at the end of the powerplay overs
O'Brien then dropped a sharp chance behind the wicket as Rees leg-glanced Rob Taylor and the opener next over nearly chipped a ball back to Raine. Wallace then completed a 39-ball fifty before next ball being bowled by Raine as the opening stand ended in the 13th over. 84/1 saw Chris Cooke arrive in the middle, and on 3 he was nearly run out by James Sykes. He celebrated his good fortune by pulling Raine for six as Glamorgan reached the 100-mark in the 17th over, followed by a pair of deft late cuts for four against Sykes.
Cooke then drilled Cobb to long-off for four being swatting Sykes to deep mid-wicket and despatching Shiv Thakor through mid-off for four. But with the total on 148 Rees departed l.b.w. to Sykes. Six runs later Jim Allenby also departed as he drilled Sykes into the hands of short extra cover, before Cooke reached 50 from 49 balls.
Together with Marcus North, Cooke maintained the tempo with some deftly placed singles before the sequence was ended by North who firmly cut Taylor for four. Cooke then harpooned Taylor over mid-wicket for six as Glamorgan reached the 200-mark in the 32nd over. North also biffed Thakor to wide long-on for four, but with his side on 210 he edged Buck into the keepers gloves.
Murray Goodwin began with a rasping cut for four and then a Viv Richards-like glance for six over the head of deep square-leg, swiftly followed by a lofted off-drive for six. Cooke then drilled thakor to long-off and Raine over extra cover for further fours but on 85 he lofted Raine into the hands of long-off.
Goodwin continued his merry spree by swatting a no-ball from Raine for six and then scooping a four to long-leg, before clipping Thakor into Mumbles Road for six. Next over, Goodwin deftly steered Buck to third man for four before being caught on the mid-wicket boundary for 48 as he looked destined to equal the record of Stewart Walters who posted a 19-ball fifty against Lancashire in 2011 at Colwyn Bay.With his side on 278/6, Graham Wagg maintained the momentum with a fusillade of lusty drives including a massive six into Fred's Bar as Glamorgan ended on 303/6 after 40 overs.
Cobb and O'Brien launched the Foxes pursuit of the stiff target, although they had successfully chased 324 against Somerset at Grace Road earlier in the season. But as in the Championship match, a bank of cloud moved in from Mumbles Head, and with the ball moving around Allenby had Cobb caught behind in his first over. 7/1 then became 12/2 as Greg Smith edged Hogan into Wallace's gloves.
Niall O'Brien thumped a lusty drive over extra cover against Hogan but with the total on 25, a subtle change of pace by Allenby led to Ned Eckerskey being bowled attempting a similarly expansive blow.Wagg and Andrew Salter kept the pressure on the Foxes with a miserly spell in tandem, and another clever change of pace, this time by Salter , led to Thakor's stumps being re-arranged by the young spinner.
After the Foxes limped to 50 in the 14th over, Dean Cosker replaced Wagg and maintained the pressure on the visitors who continued to accumulate almost exclusively in singles with Salter completing his parsimonious spell without conceding a boundary. O'Brien then completed his patient fifty from 84 balls and celebrated by striking Wagg through the covers for four, before Michael Thornely did the same to bring up the century.
This was followed by a massive on-drive for six by O'Brien against Wagg as the Foxes took their batting powerplay in the 30th over with their total on 115/4. Thornely began by chipping Allenby for four, and when Hogan returned at the Mumbles Road End, he also drilled him to mid-wicket for four. Next over Thornely lofted him for six and four, before reaching fifty from 53 balls.
The flurry of blows continued for a while against Wagg, but Hogan returned and had Thornely caught at deep mid-wicket by Chris Cooke, ending the stand which had added 133 for the fifth wicket. Rob Taylor continued the defiance by lofting Allenby for six but O'Brien's innings ended as he drove the all-rounder to mid-off. Tom Wells also lofted Allenby for six before using the long-handle twice against Hogan. Wagg then returned for the final over and was also struck for two straight sixes by Taylor and Wells as the Foxes ended on 235/6 to give Glamorgan a deserved victory by 68 runs.
