Glamorgan return to winning ways at Cardiff

A disciplined batting and bowling performance saw Glamorgan return to winning ways at Cardiff with a 7 wicket victory over a lacklustre Warwickshire side who were without both of their overseas players. Glamorgan`s victory was their first since July 13th and their first over Warwickshire in a League match in Wales since 1997.

The Glamorgan bowlers dismissed the visitors for 196 in 43.5 overs after the Warwickshire captain, Micahel Powell had won the toss and elected to bat first. Apart from Trevor Penney who made an unbeaten 64, none of his batsmen could master an accurate Glamorgan attack who included Andrew Davies for the first time for 8 weeks following a hand injury.

It was Davies who made the early breakthorugh, dismissing Neil Carter in his second over, whilst Michael Kasprowicz bowled Ian Bell for just 5. Alex Wharf, who had received a mauling from the Essex batsmen in midweek, came on as first change and delivered a controlled five over spell, conceeding just 14 runs and picking up the valuable wicket of the prolific Nick Knight thanks to a fine diving catch by Mark Wallace.

The wicket-keeper also took another good catch later in the innings as the Glamorgan spinners - Robert Croft and Dean Cosker contained the visiting batsmen, with Cosker taking 2-3 in 10 balls, before Adrian Dale returned to finish off the innings, taking two wickets in his fourth over. Dale finished with figures of 3/16, whilst Cosker had the fine figures of 3/44, and Croft only conceeded 38 runs in his accurate 9 over spell.

Needing to score at 4.3 an over, Glamorgan made a poor start, losing Jimmy Maher in the opening over, but Robert Croft and Michael Powell then shared a stand of 76 in 14 overs, before Powell chipped a ball to mid-wicket. But Croft was in a determined mood, and he duly went on to score 70 from as many balls, hitting 11 boundaries and recorded his fourth half-century of the season, all of which have been at Cardiff.

Croft was eventually bowled by Bell, but a watchful 47 from Matthew Maynard and a sublime 41 from David Hemp saw Glamorgan to their victory target without any further alarms and maintain Glamorgan`s quest of retaining their Division One title. The victory, achieved with 4.1 overs to spare puts them just two points behind leaders Gloucestershire and Surrey.