McCullum pips Patel in NZ battle

Glamorgan 121 for 6 (North 37) beat Warwickshire 118 (Clarke 42, Wagg 3-24) by four wickets
Scorecard

New Zealand allrounder Nathan McCullum was the hero as Glamorgan celebrated a final-over victory over Warwickshire in their Friends Life t20 clash at the Swalec Stadium.

In a low scoring game on a slow pitch, McCullum smashed 18 from five balls, striking two sixes and a four as Glamorgan chased down 119 to claim a four-wicket win with five balls to spare. The victory kept up Glamorgan's 100% record and put them top of the Midlands, Wales and West Group after they beat Worcestershire last week.

Glamorgan, who were without allrounder Jim Allenby with a stomach problem, put Warwickshire into bat and restricted them to 118 all out, with Rikki Clarke top-scoring with 42 from 41 balls. Graham Wagg finished with 3 for 24.

But it was always going to be a difficult chase for Glamorgan and so it proved. The hosts made a poor start to their innings with Mark Wallace going for a first-ball duck and Murray Goodwin holing out to backward square.

Chris Cooke and Marcus North looked settled until Cooke was stumped well out of his crease off Jeetan Patel. Runs continued to be hard to come by as Ben Wright was caught attempting a reverse sweep, leaving Glamorgan 67 for 4 in the 13th over.

As the pressure mounted the home side lost Nick James to a run out and then North, with 37 from 47 balls, was bowled by Patel. With 17 required from the final two overs McCullum kept his cool to strike fellow New Zealander Patel for a four and a six.

And from the first ball of the final over McCullum hit his second six off Chris Wright to take his side to 121 for six and seal victory.

Earlier, Warwickshire had been in desperate trouble within six overs, having been reduced to 32 for 4. The collapse began when Will Porterfield was well caught by Wagg at mid-on off Michael Hogan, who then caught Laurie Evans off James.

Warwickshire then went from 17 for 2 to 28 for 3 as Varun Chopra, captaining in the absence of the injured Jim Troughton, also perished to backward square off Alex Jones. Chris Woakes went for a second ball duck, stumped by Wallace off McCullum .

With experienced pair Darren Maddy, who announced he is to retire at the end of the season, and Clarke attempting a recovery, Warwickshire reached 57 for four at the halfway stage. They put on 60 for the fifth wicket until Maddy was caught on the square leg boundary for 30.

Clarke hit two consecutive fours before Wagg had him caught behind from a slow ball bouncer. Warwickshire's cause was not helped as they lost their final four wickets for only nine runs in the final 11 balls and the late collapse proved decisive.