Match Report: Glamorgan vs. Kent Spitfires
Kent Spitfires faced 2021 champions Glamorgan in a Royal London Cup tie at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.
After an opening day victory away at Worcestershire in the Royal London Cup, the Spitfires came up short in South Wales before their home opener at The County Ground, Beckenham on Sunday.
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Career-best one-day scores for Colin Ingram and Tom Cullen, in a record sixth wicket stand for Glamorgan of 186, sparked a remarkable recovery which took Glamorgan to their second win in the tournament.
Ingram scored 155 off 148 balls, one of the best one day innings for Glamorgan, while Australian Cullen ended unbeaten on 80 off 77 balls after the pair came together with the Welsh County wobbling on 107 for five against Kent Spitfires’ imposing total of 304 for eight.
Ingram was the dominant partner after getting a life on 55, caught off a Hamidullah Qadri no ball, but Cullen’s contribution was also vital, as Glamorgan remain top of Group B of the 50 over competition.
Spitfires opener Joey Evison did not deserve to be on the losing side after his century in the first innings, the third time he has played Glamorgan this season, for three different counties – Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire as well as Kent with a previous high score of 12 in those encounters.
Glamorgan asked Kent to bat first and got the perfect start when Ben Compton was caught behind third ball of the innings off the bowling of James Weighill.
However Ollie Robinson joined Evison and the pair kept the scoreboard ticking over at around a run a ball until Robinson was out just after reaching his 50.
Alex Blake continued to provide Evison with good support and the pair put on a century partnership before falling in quick succession.
At that stage Kent would have been eyeing a total of up to 350, but with Dan Douthwaite the pick of the Glamorgan bowlers the home side were able to peg the visitors back to the point they were grateful to creep over the 300 mark.
Douthwaite finished with figures of 2-43 off his 10 overs, James Weighell also picking up a pair of wickets, as did Ingram with his leg spin. George Linde’s 27 not out at the end of the innings ensured they reached 304 for 8.
It was still an imposing total and Glamorgan needed a good start. Unfortunately for them they did not get it with opener Sam Northeast falling for a Golden Duck just 11 days after he scored a quadruple century in the County Championship.
That brought Ingram to the crease and he seemed to be facing a different bowling attack to his teammates, regularly finding the boundary without taking any major risks.
It was not the same at the other end as batsmen came and went, although skipper Kiran Carlson offered some resistance with his 28.
Ingram finally departed for 155 with 12 needed for victory. Cullen remained until the end to see his team over the line.
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Kent centurion Joey Evison: “Obviously I’m bitterly disappointed not to come away with a win, but it has been a really pleasing day for me getting my first hundred in List A cricket and hopefully I can carry on and score as many runs as I can in this competition.
“I feel in the last power play we were 25-30 runs short, Darren Stevens pulling up did not help, we lost a couple of wickets, and they got momentum.
“Ingram played a terrific innings, one of the best I have seen in a long time, he really took the game away from us and Cullen batted really well too so it was one of those where you have to give credit to the batters.
“It was a good game of cricket, I thought. This is the fourth time I have played Glamorgan this year, it feels like I’m playing them every other week, but it is always nice to play in Cardiff.”
