Michael Klinger kiboshes Glamorgan's hopes to put Gloucestershire top

Gloucestershire 197 for 6 (Klinger 77*) beat Glamorgan 167 for 9 by 30 runs
Scorecard

Michael Klinger summoned a superb unbeaten half-century to guide Gloucestershire to a 30-run Vitality Blast win over neighbours Glamorgan at Cheltenham.

The veteran Australian batsman hit 77 not out as the hosts posted an imposing 197 for 6 in front of a sell-out crowd at the College Ground. Overseas signing Andrew Tye then took 3 for 17 as Glamorgan subsided to 167 for 9 in reply, leaving Gloucestershire in top spot in the South Group with four wins from six games.

Put into bat, Gloucestershire made a quickfire start, Miles Hammond smashing 34 in a high-octane innings that comprised 15 balls and included three sixes and three fours. Dropped on the deep midwicket boundary by Kiran Carlson on 16, he continued to wreak havoc until losing his off stump to a Tim van der Gugten in-swinger with the score on 43 in the fifth over.

Aided and abetted by a lightning-fast outfield, Klinger and Ian Cockbain traded almost exclusively in boundaries to advance the score to 91 for 1 in the tenth over.

But Gloucestershire's hitherto serene progress was interrupted by the advent of Andrew Salter's off spin, Cockbain reaching for a wide delivery and perishing to a smart stumping by Chris Cooke, having raised 26 from 19 balls in a stand of 48 with Klinger for the second wicket. Rory Smith then made further inroads, inducing Kieran Noema-Barnett to feather a catch behind and Benny Howell to chip meekly to mid-off, at which point the hosts had lost three wickets for the addition of seven runs in nine balls.

Responsibility for repairing the damage fell to Klinger, who moved to 50 from 38 balls, building mid-innings momentum in alliance with Ryan Higgins. Looking to repeat the spectacular half-century he made for Middlesex in Blast action at the Festival a year ago, Higgins rushed to 30 from 22 balls in staging a restorative partnership of 53 for the fifth wicket.

When he was run out by Colin Ingram's throw from extra cover in the 18th over, hard-hitting Jack Taylor picked up the cudgels, smiting Michael Hogan over extra cover and long-on for consecutive sixes as Gloucestershire sought acceleration.

Klinger then stamped his authority, launching a fearsome assault on fellow Australian Hogan in a final over that yielded 20 runs and tipped the scales back in favour of the home side. An assured figure throughout, Gloucestershire's captain was still there at the end, unbeaten on 77 from 50 balls, with seven fours and three sixes to his name.

The early impetus afforded Glamorgan's reply by Aneurin Donald, whose 26 came at a rate of two runs per ball, was interrupted when David Payne took a brilliant return catch in the third over.

But Ingram and Khawaja redressed the balance, proving particularly severe on Payne and Noema-Barnett as the power-play yielded 72. It required Tom Smith's slow left arm to break a progressive partnership that had realised 55 runs in five overs, Khawaja top-edging to short fine leg for 33.

Joe Burns was held by Smith at deep backward square leg off the bowling of Howell, while Higgins stooped to conquer in claiming the key wicket of Ingram, caught and bowled for 38 with the score on 108 for 4 in the 12th over.

Bowling with great intelligence from the Chapel End, Tye then accounted for Carlson, Cooke and Salter in quick succession to effectively stifle Welsh ambition