Glamorgan lose at Bristol in another Twenty20 run feast

Glamorgan went down to a 53 run defeat at Bristol as Gloucestershire completed the zonal rounds of the Twenty20 Cup with their fifth successive victory and the highest total in the new competition - 221/7 - thanks to a savage 88 by Craig Spearman from just 39 balls with 7 fours and 7 huge sixes, to the delight of a capacity crowd, in excess of 5,000.

The Gloucestershire innings saw 17 fours and 11 sixes being struck as the home team progressed to the semi-final with an unbeaten record. In all of their previous games, Gloucestershire had chased a relatively small target, but tonight this was the first time that they had batted first.

Spearman and Ian Harvey set the tempo with a blistering openin partnership of 73 in just 7 overs, and later in the innings, Chris Taylor and Alex Gidman chipped in with some lusty blows.

Needing to score at a shade over 11 an over, much depended on Matthew Maynard and the veteran completed his third consecutive half-century in the new competition from just 25 balls, with nine fours and a six.

However, the experienced Gloucestershire bowlers took wickets at regular intervals as the Welsh batsmen bravely made an attempt at the mammoth target. Any hopes that they may have held evaporated when Maynard was dismissed for 69, but his aggregate of 242 in the new tournament is the highest by an English batsman.