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Glamorgan T20 Season Summed Up In One Defeat, Admits Skipper Kiran Carlson

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By Gareth James

Glamorgan finished the T20 Blast campaign with another defeat which captain Kiran Carlson admitted summed up their forgettable campaign.

Despite a fastest ever T20 half-century for the Welsh county by Carlson, a superb all round performance from Ryan Higgins saw Middlesex to victory.

Higgins hit 71 off 36 balls to steer his side to a total of 200, then took 3 for 20 with his seam bowling, including two wickets in two balls to change the momentum of the match.

Glamorgan had looked to be romping to victory when they were 95 for 1 off 6.4 overs when Carlson was out for 77, scored off just 29 balls.

It was a consolation victory for bottom-of-the-table Middlesex, Glamorgan just one place above them, with Ethan Bamber and Luke Hollman also taking three wickets each as Glamorgan slipped to 151 all out.

It means Glamorgan finished their T20 campaign in eighth place in the South Group – six points and four places short of making the knockout stages.

“It’s kind of been the story of our T20 season,” admitted Carlson.

“We’ve shown flashes of really good stuff but sometimes some really bad stuff as well. So, stuff to think about, and try and come back next year stronger and learn from it.

“I think they probably got 20 (runs) too many. I think it really hurt us that Peter Hatzoglou had to go off and couldn’t finish his four overs because he was really hard to play on that wicket.

“We felt like we were still in the game. Obviously with our batting line up, we back ourselves to chase anything.

“To be fair to Middlesex, they bowled really well, pegged us back, took a load of wickets, and it’s always going to be tough when you’re six or seven (wickets) down. It’s the way it goes,
Middlesex all rounder Higgins said: “It’s nice to get over the line for the third time. It’s been a tough campaign, but it’s nice the last couple of weeks to put in some good performances.

“I think the pitch suited my bowling. It took a bit of time to get going with the bat, but it was nice to be there at the end and get some runs. It was pretty good, I’m pretty happy.”

Middlesex openers Stephen Eskinazi and Joe Cracknell treated the early deliveries from left arm spinner Prem Sisidoya with respect, but a reverse slog sweep for six off the final ball of the opening over lit the blue touch paper.

With plenty of ramp and reverse shots, they accelerated to 69 without loss at the end of the powerplay, with both openers 33 not out.

Spin was proving harder to get away and the first wicket fell with Cracknell trying to ramp Sisodiya. Eskinazi followed soon after, bowled giving himself room against Peter Hatzoglou.

Max Holden was caught off a ramp shot to Hatzoglou, while the medium pace of Andy Gorvin trapped John Simpson lbw trying a reverse sweep.

Luke Hollman hit a six first ball and was out second, bowled by Sisodiya, but as the wickets kept falling at the other end Higgins kept going whenever he was on strike. He went to his 50 with a six off Tom Bevan over midwicket and two runs off the last ball took his team to 200.

Glamorgan were looking for an even faster start, Carlson scoring 19 out of 20 taken from the first over by Joshua De Caires.

The opening partnership reached 39 before the end of the third over, when Sam Northeast went for just 2 – showing how dominant Carlson had been in the early stages.

The 50 came up in the fourth over. Carlson brought up his two balls later off just 15 deliveries. Glamorgan reached 87 at the end of the powerplay with Northeast and William Smale having contributed two runs each compared to 70 from Carlson.

Carlson was finally out for 77, caught and bowled by Hollman clutching onto a fiercely hit flat-batted shot.

However the atmosphere changed as Glamorgan lost two wickets in two balls Smale lbw to Higgins and the Chris Cooke caught behind first ball.

Another burst of two wickets in two balls changed the momentum back to Middlesex, Colin Ingram was lbw to a ball which appeared to pitch comfortably outside leg stump, then next ball Timm van der Gugten was caught and bowled by Ethan Bamber to give him his third wicket.

Another caught-and-bowled, this time to Higgins, saw the end of Bevan, Sisodiya also skying the ball to depart after a brief cameo as Glamorgan subsided to 151 all out.

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