A superb cameo from Nathan McCullum who smashed two sixes and a four from just five balls plus a patient 37 by Marcus North saw Glamorgan maintain their unbeaten sequence in the Friends Life t20 as they defeated the Warwickshire Bears by four wickets with five balls in hand under the SWALEC Stadium floodlights.
The Welsh county made two changes to their team that defeated Worcestershire at New Road, with Nick James replacing the unwell Jim Allenby, whilst Alex Jones replaced Will Owen. Michael Hogan and Graham Wagg shared the new ball for the Welsh county, and after a series of singles in the Australian's opening over, William Porterfield cover drove Graham Wagg's first ball for four. Varun Chopra had some good fortune in the third over when Marcus North failed to cling onto a miscued drive at short mid-wicket, but three balls later Wagg at mid-off took a good diving catch to send Porterfield back to the dug-out.But in the space of the next fourteen balls the Bears slumped from 15/1 to 32/4 as James struck in his first over with Laurie Evans miscuing a leg-side stroke and holing out to Hogan at short fine-leg. A similar shot then accounted for Chopra as Jones struck in his first over, before Nathan McCullum had Chris Woakes deftly stumped by Mark Wallace.
Darren Maddy and Rikki Clarke then stabilised the innings with some smart singles against the triumvirate of spinners, initially reaching 57/4 at the halfway stage with Maddy lofting Dean Cosker over mid-wicket for four, whilst Clarke opted for an aerial shot over extra cover against the left-arm twirler. Maddy also unfurled a ramp shot to long-leg as Jones returned to the attack before Clarke brought up the fifty stand by lofting McCullum over wide long-on for six.
But Wagg returned to end their stand as Maddy clipped a ball to a diving Hogan at deep backward square-leg as the Bears lost their fifth wicket on 92. Clarke then brought up the hundred by smashing Wagg through extra cover for four followed by a ramp stroke against the same bowler to long-leg. But the bowler gained revenge as another subtle change of pace saw Clarke miscue a pull high into Wallace's gloves with the Bears slipping further to 105/6.
Steffan Piolet and Ateeq Javid were then restricted to just one-s and two's as the canny Hogan returned, and a superb pick up and throw at backward point ran out Piolet at the bowler's end as the Bears slipped to 109/7. Three runs later Jeetan Patel spooned a ball from Wagg to Jones at extra cover as the left-armer's change of pace undid another batsman. Hogan then bowled Pete McKay before Javid was run out by Cooke off the final ball.
Chasing a target of 119 to win, Glamorgan suffered an early blow as Wallace departed second ball as he chipped Javid to short extra-cover. Cooke then struck the first boundary as he drilled Javid through mid-off. Murray Goodwin then pulled a short ball from Woakes to the ropes at mid-wicket but two balls later he perished attempting to repeat the stroke as the home side slipped to 11/2.
Cooke duly straight drove Chris Wright for four before scampering a series of singles with North. Cooke then slashed Woakes to backward point for four, whilst North off-drove the all-rounder straight for four as Glamorgan ended the powerplay on 40/2. A cover driven four by Cooke brought up the fifty but he was then stumped off a wide by Pete McKay as Patel ended the third wicket stand.
Ben Wright duly joined North as the pair worked the ball around for singles with the Bears bowlers keeping things tight. With boundaries at a premium, Wright tried an inventive stroke against Javid and miscued to his namesake at short fine-leg as Glamorgan slipped to 67/4. James also worked the ball around with North as the singles kept coming - but no fours - as the equation became 42 off 36 balls.
The boundary drought ended as James cleverly nurdled Piolet for two fours in successive balls but Patel and Wright still kept things tight as the equation became 23 from 18 balls. A smart piece of fielding by Porterfield then ran out James with Glamorgan on 98/5 as Wagg joined North with 17 needed off the last two overs.
But Patel then bowled North to strike what seemed to be a decisive blow but McCullum had other ideas by reverse-sweeping his fellow Kiwi for four before harpooning him for a massive six into the Grandstand. This meant that just four were needed off the last over from Wright but the Kiwi settled the match with another lusty drive as he deposited the ball straight for another six as Glamorgan won by four wickets with five balls in hand.
