Record-breaking Glamorgan easily defeat Worcestershire

A whirlwind 94 by Australian Jimmy Maher and an impressive all-round performance from Robert Croft helped Glamorgan to a 111-run victory over Worcestershire in their Norwich Union National League Division Two clash at Cardiff.

The Queenslander fell six short of his first league century but not before he had shared in a match-winning 151-run partnership for the second wicket off just 20 overs with Croft after Glamorgan had won the toss.

It was the backbone of Glamorgan's 305-6 - a record league score for the county beating the 294-4 against Surrey at Pontypridd in 1999.

Both Maher and Croft scored their half-centuries from just 41 deliveries as the Worcestershire seam attack was put to the sword. The visitors weren't helped by their fielding which saw Croft dropped three times and Maher once on 65.

The off spin of Graeme Hick slowed Glamorgan up and also accounted for the wickets of Croft and Maher in the space of two overs. Maher's 94 came up off 76 with 18 fours.

The rest of the Glamorgan innings couldn't quite match the scoring rate of Maher and Croft but at the end Adrian Dale cruised to a 36-ball 50.

Worcestershire started their reply in encouraging manner reaching 100 in the 15th over but at the cost of three wickets - Anurag Singh, Jamie Pipe and Phil Weston.

Worcestershire's hopes rested on the shoulder of Hick and Vikram Solanki but both fell victim to Croft who produced a superb spell of three for 31. Once those two perished the visitors innings slowly subsided and they were bowled out with 10.3 overs remaining.