Glamorgan lose their opening Twenty20 match

Glamorgan lost their opening game in the Twenty20 competition, losing to Northants at Cardiff by 23 runs.

The visitors, who elected to bat first, were restricted at first by an accurate opening spell by the Glamorgan attack. Mike Kasprowicz started the competition with a maiden, before David Harrison clean bowled Ben Phillips with his first delivery.

However, the visitors recovered to make 159-5 in their 20 over allocation thanks to Australian Mike Hussey who scored his second half-century in the competition, with a cultured 79 from just 58 balls.

The Northants captain shared a useful stand of 45 in the last 4 overs with wicket-keeper Gerard Brophy to leave Glamorgan needing to score at 8 runs an over. After an early flurry from openers Robert Croft and Ian Thomas, there was the steady clatter of wickets, as Glamorgan slipped to 44-3 after 7 overs, with Thomas, Mike Powell and Matthew Maynard all back in the pavilion.

After the loss of David Hemp, Croft continued with some whirlwind blows, but shortly after reaching his 32 ball fifty, Croft was run out coming back for a third run after he and Adrian Dale had taken 18 from Mike Cawdron`s final over.

The acting Glamorgan captain was one of four men to be run out as his batsmen struggled to keep up with the required rate against the visiting attack who bowled straight and full. There was little on offer either from spinners Graeme Swann and Jason Brown, and despite a few lusty blows towards the end of their innings from Darren Thomas, it was Brown who finished things off by bowling Thomas with 8 balls remaining and Glamorgan 24 runs adrift of their target.