A career-best Twenty20 innings by Aneurin Donald and some brutal hitting by Colin Ingram, the prototype cricketer for this competition, enabled Glamorgan to make a sufficiently large total to defeat a Surrey side shorn of their best two batsmen. In doing so they retained their lead of the South group.
Their margin of victory was tighter than anticipated owing to some effective late hitting by Tom Curran, who made a half-century off 27 balls, but 17 off the last over proved beyond him.
Curran hit Michael Hogan’s first ball for two and his second for six, but missed the third and fourth. Surrey were without their two star attractions, Kumar Sangakkara, who is playing in the Caribbean Premier League, and Kevin Pietersen, who has a calf injury. To discernible groans, a third, Jason Roy, who did play, was out first ball.
Four days after the highly successful 100th Test match here, the ground was not quite full. Nevertheless, the attendance, 21,256, would still have sated the demands of any of the county treasurers in the land.
Needing 182 to win, Surrey lost Roy, driving, to a ball from Lukas Carey; Mark Stoneman, caught at deep midwicket; and Aaron Finch, after a few lusty blows, at long-on. Moises Henriques pulled Marchant de Lange to deep square leg and Sam Curran, before his eye was in, holed out to long-on.
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Glamorgan had opted to bat — Surrey have lost every toss here in this competition this season — and, after Jacques Rudolph was brilliantly caught at point by Roy from a full-blooded drive, Donald and Ingram took to every bowler who came on. Especially Gareth Batty, who had 22 taken off one over. One six by Ingram over mid-wicket was quite spectacular.
Ingram has forearms strengthened by having grown up on a farm: he fairly pulverises the ball. A further six, this off Sam Curran, was swung out of the ground. He had made 42 off 31 balls when he cut Henriques to backward point.
Donald reached his highest T20 score, 76, off 40 balls having hit 11 fours and two sixes. Glamorgan looked likely to reach a total of 200 or so when they were together, but 181 for six proved sufficient.