By David Williams
Colin Ingram insists Glamorgan will go into their next Vitality Blast T20 clash against Sussex at Hove on Sunday in confident mood after they moved up to fourth place in the table.
Ingram combined with Chris Cooke on Friday night to share a stand of 109 as the Welsh county beat Kent by seven wickets with an impressive display in Cardiff.
That win lifted Glamorgan to fourth in the south group as they won for the third time in their opening four games of the tournament.
Sussex have only won of their four game and are one from bottom of the table.
Ingram – who hit 63 not out – said: “I chatted with Chris before the game and we hit the ball so well in the last game that we could invest in a few balls to get back in again.
“But we could feel the juices again and it flowed really nicely so it was great to kick on again, especially in our first home game with an awesome crowd in, the sun shining, and to get a win like that was fantastic.
“There was a little extra grass left on the wicket and it skidded through nicely, so a fantastic job by the ground staff and the outfield was in immaculate condition, it was like a carpet.
Limited Overs Head Coach Mark Alleyne has named an unchanged 1⃣4⃣-man squad for this afternoon’s trip to @SussexCCC #OhGlammyGlammy | #Blast23
— Glamorgan Cricket (@GlamCricket) June 4, 2023
“I’ve worked incredibly hard, last year and even the year before, I wasn’t quite at my best (in T20) and it’s taken a lot of work to get back here, so I just want to wrap this form up in a bubble and move it onto the next show.
“The last couple of years have been a bit of a tough experience, so to feel that good tonight was really cool.”
Ingram, Cooke (46) and Eddie Byrom (43) all chipped in against Kent as the home side chased down a target of 190 to win by seven wickets with 18 balls remaining.
Kent’s innings had a strong start thanks to a career-best score from Tawanda Muyeye and a powerful finish thanks to their lower order but a stutter in the middle overs prevented them from setting a truly competitive total.
This win was Glamorgan’s third from four matches while Kent now have two wins and two losses.
Glamorgan coach Mark Alleyne said: “Chasing 190 is never an easy task in any conditions in any stadium but I thought we did a fantastic job, Eddie Byrom got us off to a flyer and the partnership between Chris and Colin was stunning batting.
These two #OhGlammyGlammy pic.twitter.com/KoJOy9fMhg
— Glamorgan Cricket (@GlamCricket) June 2, 2023
“You don’t see it that often where two guys play a record partnership the game before and then repeat it again the very next game.
“What we have said to the players is that they have no restrictions, we don’t deal in par scores, we’re playing to broaden our personal and team envelopes. I hope we can continue to express ourselves over the tournament and set new standards.”
Kent coach Matt Walker said: “The first half, we felt it was a pretty good score, we felt 189 was above par since 164 is a winning score on average here in T20. Tawanda was outstanding at the top but there wasn’t much else, a few cameos.
“But if we bowl like that, 189 is nowhere near enough, it was poor. We didn’t get our plans right, our lengths right, and made it very easy for them.
“We bowled too wide and weren’t able to create any pressure apart from Michael Hogan bowling pretty well and I don’t think they broke sweat in that run-chase.
“The bottom line is, it wasn’t up to scratch and if we want to do anything in this competition we’ve got to get better very quickly, we’ve got to step up collectively.”