Realistically Yorkshire had little hope of a quarter final place, but they were going to give it a go.
The attraction of 50 over cricket was on show at Sophia Gardens as the game between Glamorgan and Yorkshire ebbed and flowed through the day with Glamorgan eventually coming out on top. There was also the delight of seeing a number of young players building their CV’s.
Early morning drizzle led to a delayed start and when the toss took place it was no surprise when Jonny Tattersall, playing just his second game in the competition, asked Glamorgan to bat first. Play got under way at 11:30, with the game reduced to 47 overs-a-side, a reasonable crowd building up under cloudy skies. Ben Kellaway returned for Glamorgan, while 18-year-old Noah Kelly came in for his Yorkshire debut in place of Finlay Bean and Dom Leech replaced Ben Coad.
Asa Tribe moved up to open the batting alongside Will Smale and both were dismissed off the bowling of Ben Cliff in the sixth over, leaving Glamorgan on 28/2. The same bowler then removed the dangerous Sam Northeast in his next over and when George Hill induced an edge off Colin Ingram (18), Glamorgan were 84/4. A rebuild was initiated by Kiran Carlson and Billy Root, but Hill then trapped Carlson lbw for 31 and Glamorgan were in trouble at 103/5 from 22 overs. The one concern for Yorkshire was the departure of Matthew Revis from the field having bowled just three overs, with an apparent back problem.
The spin pair of Dom Bess and Dan Moriarty came on in tandem and some extra bounce assisted Moriarty to induce edges from the bats of Kellaway (19) and Andy Gorvin (1). He also removed Dan Douthwaite (12), before Root and Timm van der Gugten mounted something of a revival with a 56 run ninth wicket partnership, the best of the innings. Root fell for 66 in the last over, to give Hill his second wicket and van der Gugten ended on 34 not out as Glamorgan reached 230/9. Ben Cliff finished with three for 37 and Moriarty three for 47.
Yorkshire’s young top order were soon in trouble, with the ball moving around. The top four are aged from 18 to 23 years and were put under severe pressure from the excellent van der Gugten and Jamie McIlroy, who togther had captured three wickets for just 11 runs by the end of the sixth over.
Tattersall joined Yash Vagadia with a need to rebuild. They put on 46 for the fourth wicket, Tattersall dropped by Kellaway in the covers when on 12. Kellaway made up for this lapse when he switched from right to left arm spin for the 11th ball of his spell and induced Vagadia (21) to hit the ball straight to Asa Tribe at extra cover.
Revis’ back issues did not prevent him going back on the field during the Glamorgan innings and he came out to join Tattersall. Against the change bowling life became a lot easier for the batters and Glamorgan were forced into bringing back the opening bowlers with Yorkshire 87/4 from 21 overs. However it was Gorvin who made the breakthrough dismissing both set batters in the 28th over, having gone for 19 runs in his first two overs. First Revis (28) was caught by Smale standing up behind the stumps and two balls later Tattersall was trapped lbw for 51, the pair having put on 99 for the fifth wicket. Glamorgan were back on top at 117/6, Yorkshire needing 114 from 19.3 overs with just four wickets in hand.
Gorvin picked up his third wicket as he nipped one back to Hill and then Dom Bess tried to take the attack to the bowlers, before he reverse swept the first ball of a new spell from Kellaway to Douthwaite at backward point, out for 22. At 152/8 the match was settled and Kellaway and Gorvin picked up the last two wickets as Yorkshire were all out for 168. Gorvin finished with four for 35 and Kellaway three for 33.
The win by a comfortable 62 runs secured a home quarter final for the Welsh side, to be played on Sunday.
