Jacques Rudolph‘s century in Glamorgan’s mid-week Royal London One-Day Cup fixture was not enough to stave off defeat, reports Gareth Stevens.
Nottinghamshire won the toss in Wales and inserted the hosts. Rudolph scored 101 off 131 balls at the top of the order, but received very little support from his teammates. He was forced to hold the innings together, which eventually concluded on 227-8.
The chase got off to a disastrous start as the visitors slumped to 48-4 in the 15th over. The required run rate never got out of control though, meaning that one special innings could rescue the situation. Riki Wessels and Steven Mullaney were the two guys to put their hands up. They scored 65 and 63 respectively, to see Nottinghamshire home with three wickets in hand.
In Gosforth, Jonathan Trott took another step in his recovery from mental burnout by scoring 106 in Warwickshire’s total of 264 all out. Durham were always in control of the chase, as the top order lay the foundation. Keaton Jennings‘ 15 not out at No 6 took the hosts to a comfortable five-wicket win.
In possibly the most entertaining match of the tournament thus far, Kent sneaked home against Somerset in a run-fest at Taunton. After being asked to bat, Kent amassed 383-7 in their 50 overs. Alfonso Thomas and Tim Groenewald were put to the sword. Thomas returned figures of 2-82 in 10 overs, while his partner’s eight unsuccessful overs cost 83.
A brief shower meant the target was revised to 374 off 48 overs. The hosts gave it a good go and the two South African bowlers almost redeemed themselves with the bat. They finished undefeated with Groenewald on 52 and Thomas on 49, but fell three runs short of what would have been a remarkable victory.
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