Gloucs finally come good at Festival

Gloucestershire finally came good at the conclusion of the Cheltenham Festival to thrash Glamorgan by 10 wickets and keep alive their slender hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Friends Life T20.

Beaten by group rivals Warwickshire and Northamptonshire at the College Ground, bottom-of-the-table Gloucestershire produced a much-improved performance to make amends in a low-scoring contest played in front of a 5,000 sell-out crowd.

Glamorgan elected to bat but never recovered from the loss of early wickets and were restricted to a wholly inadequate 98 for 9, only three batsmen reaching double figures in an innings that yielded just four boundaries.

Returning to action following a seven-week injury lay-off, slow left-armer Ed Young posted figures of 3 for 21 from four overs and was ably backed up by David Payne, who deployed clever variation with the new ball and at the death to claim 3 for 17.

Gloucestershire openers Michael Klinger and Chris Dent made quick work of chasing down 99, reaching their target with 7.1 overs to spare.

Their quarter-final ambitions already undermined by successive defeats to Somerset and Northants, Glamorgan badly needed to redress the balance against their neighbours. But a third loss was all but confirmed inside six overs as Glamorgan lurched to 31 for 5 on a College Ground pitch that offered assistance to spin.

Slow left-armer Tom Smith struck in the very first over to set the tone, Jim Allenby driving high to Dan Christian at cover, while fellow opener Mark Wallace departed six balls later, taking one liberty too many against Payne's left-arm seam and holing out to mid-on.

Making his first appearance since the end of May after recovering from a broken wrist, Young announced himself with the wicket of Chris Cooke, who chipped straight to extra cover as the visitors slumped to 16 for 3 in the fourth over.

Veteran campaigner Murray Goodwin also departed to a poor shot, leaning back and cutting a length-ball from Christian to backward point and New Zealand allrounder Nathan McCullum sent a leading edge back to Payne in the act of playing to leg.

Charged with the task of rebuilding the innings, the sixth-wicket pair of Marcus North and Nick James applied themselves diligently to add 37 runs in eight overs. But their partnership ended when they tried to force the issue, North attempting to reverse-sweep Young and succeeding only in offering a simple chance to Alex Gidman at short third man.

And Young struck again in his next over from the College Lawn end, luring Graeme Wagg into front foot indiscretion as Glamorgan were further reduced to 74 for seven in the 16th over.

James hoisted Smith over square leg for the only six of the innings before being bowled by Payne for 27 in the final over, while Michael Hogan was run out as the visitors failed to raise three figures.

Promoted to open the batting for the first time, Bristolian Dent continued his rich vein of form at the Festival, dominating an unbroken stand of 99 with Klinger in 12.5 overs to put the outcome beyond reasonable doubt. Demonstrating a better understanding of the conditions than their opponents, these two accrued 11 fours and three sixes between them to put Glamorgan's innings in perspective.

Glamorgan's bowlers must be sick of the sight of Dent, who scored a superb match-winning 150 in a Yorkshire Bank 40-over fixture in Cardiff in May. On this occasion, he raised 50 from 37 balls in a chanceless knock that included eight fours and two sixes to equal his previous highest Twenty20 score of 63. Klinger finished unbeaten on 35 from 34 balls with three fours and a six.