A record breaking return of 5/14 by Graham Wagg - the best-ever in the competition for the Welsh county - saw Glamorgan record a thrilling 58-run victory under the Duckworth-Lewis Method in their rain-affected contest with Worcestershire in the Friends Life t20 tournament at a cloudy and overcast New Road.
The Welsh county's new signing Nathan McCullum, the Kiwi all-rounder, made his bow, but it was the same opening pairing as last year with Jim Allenby and Mark Wallace facing Gareth Andrew and Jack Shantry. Wallace struck the evening's first boundary as he steered Andrew through backward point before lofting Shantry's first delivery back straight back over his head for another four. Andre Russell, Worcestershire's new acquisition was the next bowler to be despatched to the ropes by Wallace as he deftly flicked the West Indian to fine-leg, before Allenby also drilled him through extra cover.Wallace continued to pummel the boundaries as he pulled a short ball from Russell into the pavilion for six, followed by a deft steer to third man, plus a another lofted drive over square-leg for six both against Shantry. But the bowler gained revenge as two balls later Wallace chipped into the hands of short mid-wicket with Glamorgan on 42/1. Allenby responded by slashing Chris Russell through the covers before Chris Cooke on-drove his first delivery.
Allenby maintained the helter-skelter start by biffing consecutive balls from Shantry through the offside for four as Glamorgan ended the first six powerplay overs on 61/1. However, the light drizzle which had been falling from the start then intensified forcing the players and umpires off the field as the contest was reduced to a 14-overs per side. This meant that the Welsh county had a further eight overs.
Chris Cooke then despatched the first ball after the interruption, delivered by Shaiq Choudhry for four before Allenby swept and off-drove Moeen Ali for successive fours, as well as sweeping him for six. Cooke then lofted Choudhry straight for six but to the last ball of the over, with his side on 95, Allenby was run out by shantry as the pair tried to scamper another quick single.
Cooke brought up the hundred by lofting Mitchell for six before swatting Chris Russell to square-leg for six and two fours from consecutive deliveries followed by a superb lofted off-drive for six to complete a 23-ball fifty. He celebrated by lofting Andre Russell for four to long-on but his blitzkrieg ended later in the over as he was bowled by the West Indian. Murray Goodwin came in and upper cut Andrew for four, North then despatched Andre Russell for a six and a four in successive balls before Goodwin also holed out at cover in the final over.
After the D/L calculations had been performed, Worcestershire's revised target was 161 from 14 overs and Thilan Samaraweera launched their chase by striking Allenby for a brace of fours in the opening over Michael Hogan did not concede a boundary in his opening over but Samaraweera lofted Will Owen over extra cover as well as flicking him to long-leg for further boundaries.
But Graham Wagg ended their run spree as in successive balls the left-armer had both batsmen caught at cover and backward point. Two balls later he bowled Andrew and then McCullum struck with his first ball for Glamorgan as dangerman Andre Russell swatted a ball to Cosker at mid-wicket as Worcestershire slumped from 36/0 to 37/4 in the space of six balls.
But the clatter of wickets continued a couple of overs later, and in Cosker's first as Wallace deftly stumped Alexei Kervezee off a wide before next ball Aneesh Kapil departed l.b.w. McCullum then took a smart return catch as the blow from Mitchell cannoned into his body with the Kiwi grabbing the re-bound whilst flat on his back as the home side nosedived further to 54/7.
The task of keeping up with an ever rising run rate in the stygian gloom was beyond the scope of the home side's lower order and although Ben Cox swatted Cosker over long-on for six, they largely accumulated in singles before Wagg struck again as he removed both batsmen thanks to good catches in the deep by Hogan and Cooke as he ended with figures of 5/14 - the best-ever for Glamorgan in Twenty20 cricket beating Ryan Watkins' haul of 5/16 against Gloucestershire at the SWALEC Stadium in 2009.
