Nottinghamshire sweep to YB40 victory

Nottinghamshire claimed their first piece of one-day silverware in more than two decades with a dominant 87-run victory at Lord's. Chris Read top-scored with a run-a-ball half-century, only his second fifty in all cricket this season, after Glamorgan chose to bowl and their total proved too challenging for the Welsh county, who succumbed for 157 as Samit Patel, Ajmal Shahzad and Stuart Broad shared nine wickets.

Nottinghamshire had been the outstanding team in this, the final YB40 competition before the return of 50-over cricket next season. Their XI featured nine internationals and the gulf in class told, condemning Glamorgan to a third defeat in three Lord's finals.

Simon Jones, in possibly his final appearance for Glamorgan, and Andrew Salter, the 20-year-old offspinner, had prevented the favourites from bullying them with two wickets apiece but Read and the lower order cranked up the run rate, as 99 came from the last ten overs. That proved the difference, as Glamorgan, 144 for 5 at the 30-over mark, lost their last five wickets for 13 runs in the batting Powerplay. Broad, whose mistimed attempt at a catch had earlier left his England team-mate Graeme Swann scowling, claimed the final three wickets in a single over.

Swann, who along with Broad had been parachuted into the team that beat Somerset in the semi-final, at least had the consolation of biffing a merry 29 with the bat but it was Patel and Shahzad, England internationals themselves, who caught the eye in ripping the heart of out Glamorgan.

Patel, recently on record expressing his chagrin at being left out of England's limited-overs squads, reinforced his credentials with the crucial wickets of Chris Cooke and Jim Allenby, Glamorgan's leading run-scorers in the competition, both bowled by deliveries that turned. He took 3 for 4 in nine deliveries, derailing the run chase from a useful position of 108 for 2 in the 19th. Read, whose glovework was once the stuff of England selectors' dreams, showed his captaincy nous too, bringing up deep midwicket to encourage Murray Goodwin to sweep and helping Patel to his third wicket.

Broad took the new ball on his 40-over debut for Nottinghamshire (his last domestic one-day game was in 2008) but it was the uncapped left-armer Harry Gurney who made the breakthrough, having Glamorgan captain Mark Wallace caught at slip.

Gurney might have taken wickets with his first three deliveries, as Cooke edged short of the slips and was then beaten by a delivery angled across him. Broad, too, could have dismissed Cooke with an lbw appeal adjudged to be fractionally too high but he also took some tap as Gareth Rees rattled a couple of pulls to the boundary. Rees became the first wicket for Shahzad, who might been squeezed out of the team by Broad and Swann's inclusion had Jake Ball not suffered a back injury but finished as Nottinghamshire's leading YB40 wicket-taker.

Read went to his half-century with a driven six over long-on and batted with an energy befitting the occasion, lifting the tempo in an attempt to lead his team to a first one-day trophy since the 1991 Sunday League. His 99-run partnership with David Hussey revived Nottinghamshire from 90 for 4, overcoming a diligent Glamorgan display in the field.

Lord's finals are supposed to come with a last blazing of summer sun but, with one more round of the Championship still to play, perhaps someone had got their orders mixed up. After a sedate start under leaden skies, Michael Lumb signalled Nottinghamshire's intentions as the designated 'bigger boys' in this playground scrap by climbing into Allenby in the final Powerplay over. A muscle through midwicket was followed by a thick-edged slash to third man, then a full-blooded mow over wide long-on, as 14 runs came from three deliveries and beat out an ominous tattoo for Glamorgan.

Jones, one of England's most fragile, fleeting talents but as Welsh as Dylan Thomas, was introduced from the Pavilion End and he raged against the dying of the light in tandem with Salter.

Salter, who will have to put up with plenty of Robert Croft comparisons if continues on his current trajectory, became the third Glamorgan player to take a wicket with his first delivery in Championship cricket last month and he struck second ball here, an offbreak gripping a little to find Lumb's leading edge. The opening stand had been worth 52 but, with light drizzle falling and cries of "Oh Glammy, Glammy!" beginning to echo round the ground, the mood changed.

These teams were unfamiliar participants in Lord's finals - Glamorgan's most recent was in 2000, Nottinghamshire's 11 years further back - and their supporters also took a while to adapt to the rarefied surroundings. There was no mistaking the roar that accompanied Jones' dismissal of Alex Hales, however, caught spooning a catch to deep cover in his first-ever appearance at Lord's.

The ground was only half full, so the window panes of St John's Wood residents were not under threat from Welsh arias, but the decibel level rose as Patel picked out mid-off with a lazy drive and Jones then removed James Taylor with a delivery that seamed and bounced to kiss the edge. Jones, who will play only T20 cricket from now on, had spoken beforehand of the passion Glamorgan play with and the evidence was there in his emotional celebration.

Salter, by now bowling with a slip, had never before taken three wickets in a List A innings and he was denied his best figures when Rees dropped Hussey, a low chance at mid-off. From that point on, Glamorgan's big day out only got worse.