Middlesex hold off Glamorgan in Radlett thriller

Dawid Malan’s 50 and Steven Finn’s superb 4-39 kept Middlesex’s Royal London One-Day Cup hopes alive as they sealed a thrilling victory at Radlett.

Finn bowled the hosts back into contention when a third straight loss had seemed inevitable and, despite Colin Ingram’s efforts with the bat, Glamorgan were rolled over for 227.

Ingram had earlier starred with the ball – matching Finn’s figures exactly – as Middlesex were bowled out for 243.

Despite opting to bat, Middlesex were soon on the back foot as they lost Nick Gubbins (7) and Nick Compton (11) early on.

Malan played some crisp shots to add 70 for the third wicket with Adam Voges, and had just reached his half-century when he played on to Ingram (4-39).

From then, the Middlesex innings followed a familiar pattern as they slumped to 136-6, with Ingram removing Voges (40) lbw and Ryan Higgins (5), caught at mid-on.

Skipper James Franklin led the recovery with a gritty 54 from 75 balls, aided by Toby Roland-Jones (22) and Tom Helm (25) – but Middlesex were dismissed eight balls short of their allocation, with substitute Andrew Salter’s superb one-handed catch accounting for last man Finn (11).

Early wickets looked essential if Middlesex were to defend their meagre total, but David Lloyd, Jacques Rudolph and Will Bragg steered the visitors to a commanding position at 104-1.

However, Finn turned the game on its head, dismissing Lloyd (48), Bragg (21) and Kiran Carlson (0) in quick succession before Aneurin Donald (1) also departed, caught at mid-wicket off Roland-Jones.

Ingram (53) and Chris Cooke (24) tilted the contest back in Glamorgan’s favour with a stand of 65, but Helm grabbed two wickets in three deliveries and, when Ingram holed out to Higgins (3-32), Middlesex closed out the game.