Dan’s the man with bat and ball to beat the Bears
Dan Douthwaite turned into a matchwinner with both bat and ball as he guided Glamorgan into the Metro Bank One Day Cup final at Trent Bridge next month with a 39 run victory over Warwickshire at Sophia Gardens.
It was his lusty batting that first caught the eye as he hauled the home side through to a 50 over total of 9 for 247 after they had earlier been floundering at 4 for 44 in the 15th over. He hit four sixes – one out of the ground and into the River Taff – in his sparkling 55, hitting 16 off the final over from Oliver Hannon-Dalby.
Prior to that Colin Ingram (47) and Billy Root (46) had steadied the innings. Then Douthwaite got into his bowling rhythm and removed Chris Benjamin and Kai Smith to catches at the wicket by Will Samile as he reduced the visitors to 6 for 62 in reply in the 21st over. They were eventually all out for 208.
Timm van der Gugten, who had earlier scored 26 with the bat, picked up the wickets of Rob Yates (4) and Will Rhodes (4), while fellow paceman Jamie McIlroy got rid of the dangerous Ed Barnard (14) and Hamza Shaikh (8).
Warwickshire skipper Ed Barnard said: “It’s disappointing not to get through to the final. We probably took our foot off the gas toward the back end of their innings and Dan Douthwaite hit the ball better than anyone on the day.
“We hoped to get them for around 200, but they got up to nearly 250 in the end, which as tough to chase.”
