Glamorgan lost by ten wickets after being restricted to 98/9 from their 20 overs after opting to bat first against Gloucestershire in their crucial Friends Life t20 game at Cheltenham which attracted a sell-out crowd of 5,000 to the delightful College ground adjacent to the Cotswolds.
The Welsh county fielded an unchanged team from the one which lost to Somerset at Taunton on Friday night, so it was Mark Wallace and Jim Allenby who opened the batting - following a parachute display and special presentation by the Royal Air Force - against a Gloucestershire side who have just a solitary win to their credit so far this summer.
Spinner Tom Smith opened the bowling and with his final ball of the first over he induced a miscued drive from Allenby with Dan Christian pouching the skier. 4/1 saw Chris Cooke join Wallace, who then departed in identical at the end of the second over bowled by David Payne as he also spooned a catch to Dan Christian at mid-off
North then struck the day's first boundary as he swept Ed Young for four, but the young spinner then claimed a scalp with his third delivery as Cooke drilled a ball into the hands of cover as Glamorgan slipped to 16/3. North and Murray Goodwin each struck a boundary apiece but to the last ball of Christian's opening over, the latter cut the Australian into gully's hands as the nosedive continued, before four balls later, mcCullum was caught and bowled by Payne as another delivery seemed to stop on the Kiwi as Glamorgan nosedived to 31/5.
North and Nick James then set about a recovery mission as the pair watchfully pushed the ball around as the 50 came up in the 12th over, but with the total on 68 North's first inventive blow, saw him reverse-sweep the ball to the fielder at short fine-leg. Graham Wagg then joined James who responded by harpooning Smith for six over mid-wicket.
But Wagg was then caught behind and it was left to Dean Cosker to help James manoeuvre Glamorgan to 97 with two balls later. Off the penultimate ball, James was bowled by Payne as he attempted a ramp stroke, before Michael Hogan was run out by Hamish Marshall off the final ball of the innings as Glamorgan ended on 98/9.
James and Wagg duly opened the bowling, with Chris Dent clipping the latter's opening delivery to long-leg before sweeping James to long-leg. The opener then drilled the next ball to long-on for six before Michael Klinger did the same to the last delivery of the over. McCullum then bowled a maiden before Klinger lofted Hogan over mid-off for another four.
Dent then struck successive balls from McCullum to long-on and backward point as the home side ended the powerplays on 43/0. Another four for Dent through backward point against Hogan brought up the fifty before Klinger pulled Cosker for four. Dent continued to find the boundary boards as he steered Alex Jones behind square on the off-side before sweeping Cosker to mid-wicket as he raced to 50 from just 37 balls with another lofted extra cover drive for four.
Klinger also drilled Cosker over mid-on for four before Dent lofted Cosker over mid-wicket for six. Klinger then delivered the coup de grace by deflecting North for a single to the square-leg as Gloucestershire completed their ten-wicket victory off the penultimate ball of the 13th over with Dent unbeaten on 63.
