Struggling Panthers lose 50-over opener

By

Middlesex 174-8 (50 ov) lost to Glamorgan 175-3 (36.2 ov) by seven wkts
(Glamorgan 2 pts, Middlesex 0 pts)

Middlesex’s limited-overs woes continued as they were thumped by seven wickets in their opening Royal London Cup match at Cardiff.

Panthers were reduced to 90-8 at the halfway stage but remarkably managed to bat out their 50 overs thanks to an unlikely ninth-wicket stand of 84 between Neil Dexter (43 not out) and Steven Finn (42 not out).

However, the target of 175 would have been testing only in a T20 match and Glamorgan cruised to the win largely thanks to a superb opening partnership between Jacques Rudolph (61) and Jim Allenby (70).

They chalked off 136 before Finn removed Rudolph and although Ravi Patel took two more wickets, the home side were comfortable victors, with almost 14 overs to spare.

The poor start to this new-look competition comes a day after the end of Panthers’ miserable T20 Blast campaign, in which they lost 11 of 14 matches.

The tone was set when Dawid Malan was bowled in the first over, while Chris Rogers (13) and Eoin Morgan (4) also fell cheaply.

Middlesex only scored three boundaries in the first 10 overs with Nick Gubbins (38) the only top-order batsman to make a reasonable score.

A superb spell of bowling from David Lloyd (3-25) threatened an early end to the Panthers’ innings but Dexter and Finn restored some pride with steady, if unspectacular, scoring.

Middlesex needed early breakthroughs but instead they found Rudolph and Allenby in fine form, the openers hitting 17 fours between them.

After 10 overs they were 50-0 and reached 131-0 at the halfway mark. They weren’t able to close out the victory themselves though, with Murtagh having Rudolph caught behind and Allenby holing out off Patel in the very next over.

By then, though, the damage was done. Patel did pick up another wicket, with 41-year-old Murray Goodwin offering up a catch to Malan at mid-on, but Mark Wallace (21 not out) and Chris Cooke (10 not out) finished it off.

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook