Glamorgan spinners strangle Essex chase after van der Gugten burst

Glamorgan made it back-to-back wins in the Vitality Blast with a 26-run victory over Essex in Cardiff. Middle-order runs and a brilliant bowling display helped them close out their fourth win of the tournament.

Having been put in to bat, Glamorgan scored 182 for eight with Colin Ingram top scoring with 47. He was well supported by Marnus Labuschagne and Chris Cooke to set Essex a stiff target.

An excellent stand between Adam Rossington and Paul Walter looked to be taking Essex to victory before Labuschagne and Mason Crane choked the life out of the chase to give Glamorgan the win.

Essex were bowled out for 156 with the highest score coming from Walter who made 53.

Essex kept Glamorgan guessing with their bowling changes in the first part of their innings, with eight bowling changes in the first eight overs. Mixing up the bowling seemed with work with 43 runs and two wickets coming from the PowerPlay.

Both Glamorgan openers fell early with Will Smale top edging a sweep shot off Simon Harmer that was caught inside the circle by Robin Das and Kiran Carlson dismissed for 11 when he edged a ball from Ben Allison through to Adam Rossington.

A stand of 49 between Tom Bevan and Marnus Labuschagne helped Glamorgan recover from the loss of their openers inside the Powerplay but Bevan departed when he nicked Matt Critchley to Rossington for 23.

The experienced trio of Labuschagne, Ingram and Cooke were the reason Glamorgan got to a competitive total with all three players making significant contributions. Labuschagne made 30 from 26 balls that steadied things after the loss of early wickets. He was dismissed when he missed a sweep shot and was bowled by Critchley.

Ingram and Cooke combined for the highest stand of the Glamorgan innings, scoring 67 runs for the fourth wicket. Ingram was the highest scorer in the innings but it was Cooke who was the most destructive, scoring 38 runs from just 18 balls. Both fell in the pursuit of quick runs at the death, with Cooke departing to a fantastic catch from Ben Allison on the boundary that robbed him of another six.

The Essex innings started with Timm van der Gugten claiming three early wickets to leave the visitors 27 for three. Van der Gugten trapped Dean Elgar lbw for 4 before bowling Michael Pepper and having Robin Das caught behind.

The target seemed a long way away at that point but a brilliant partnership of 83 between Rossington and Walter brought Essex back into the game. Walter was the main contributor, making 53 of those runs from just 33 balls before he was dismissed by Dan Douthwaite.

Rossington fell in the very next over when he skied an attempted sweep off Labuschagne's legspin and he was caught by the bowler for 43 to leave Essex 113 for five.

From there Crane and Labuschagne strangled the Essex middle-order as the run rate kept climbing. The two legspinners combined for eight overs for the cost of just 48 runs and claiming five wickets between them as Essex were bowled out a long way short of the target.