De Lange leads the charge as Gloucestershire power past Glamorgan

Gloucestershire bounced back to upset Glamorgan's hopes of knock-out qualification with a 40-run win at Sophia Gardens.

Marchant De Lange terrorised his former side with 4 for 20 including two wickets in an over to flip the game to send Glamorgan to 135 all out in pursuit of Gloucestershire's 175 for 6.

Ben Charlesworth's 55 set the way for the visitors despite various missed chances from Glamorgan before De Lange starred with the ball. Will Smale struck 43 in just 27 balls in the hosts' response before lack of support brought Glamorgan a third consecutive defeat and chances of qualification for the quarter-finals left looking ominous.

Gloucestershire won the toss and unsurprisingly batted first in the 28 degrees Celsius Cardiff sunshine on a wicket used already on the same day.

D'Arcy Short failed to continue his strong form shown in a Gloucestershire shirt this year as the dangerous Australian opener reverse-swept Ben Kellaway's first ball straight to short third. Just one ball later Kellaway had another Australian dismissed. Bancroft loosely playing a flighted delivery back for a simple return catch. Kellaway had gone from not bowling in Glamorgan's previous game, in which they were unable to defend 222, to having two wickets in two balls in the powerplay.

Miles Hammond played flamboyantly as Charlesworth joined him as a third left-hander in the top four. The shuffle in order from their previous match seemed to work for Gloucestershire despite their Blast struggles this season.

Dan Douthwaite brought the partnership to close just as it was beginning to motor, worth 44. Charlesworth, who initially struggled to get his strike rate above a-run-a-ball quickly began finding boundaries, targeting Mason Crane turning his leg-spinner into him as is the modern avoidance in T20 cricket.

The left-hander slog-swept Crane for six to bring up his 50 but not before he had been dropped at long-on twice previously by two different fielders. Glamorgan's fielding efforts with misfields, overthrows as well as these drops inevitably cost them.

Jack Taylor kept the innings going in his typical unorthodox fashion, swatting balls leg-side in particular his method to score quickly.

When wickets fell, overs tended to be quiet as batters needed a few balls of patience as demonstrated by Charlesworth and Ollie Price later on. However, runs came freely in periods of drought for Glamorgan, Ned Leonard continued to impress while his teammates were often expensive.

As has been their method to date, Glamorgan intended to come out guns blazing. Smale landed a ramp in the powerplay before destructively striking through mid-wicket when the field changed on the way to his top-scoring knock.

After a positive start with Smale dominating the balls faced, partnerships with Kiran Carlson and Alex Horton produced a healthy platform for a later push.

De Lange's two wickets in an over, including Kellaway first ball dented Glamorgan's momentum severely and naturally it came to the middle order to rescue them, which has also been a theme.

Colin Ingram began doing so with some stylish flicks and stand-and-deliver drives through the offside before being outfoxed by Ajeet Singh Dale, forcing a hook to deep-backward-square, a feat replicated by Douthwaite to give the England Lions bowler a respectable 2 for 33 after an expensive start.

Elsewhere with wickets now an issue, the Gloucestershire unit bowled as a team to restrict and leave too much to do at 120 for 7 with just five overs left. David Payne chipped in at the death with three wickets of his own. Importantly, the big hitting had already been and gone. Constant flows of wickets and going too hard too early ultimately cost the hosts.