In a somber, gray yet mercifully dry stretch at the nearly deserted Trent Bridge, Somerset endured another heartbreak as they lost the One-Day Cup final, adding to their season of agonizing near-misses and infuriating close calls. Glamorgan claimed the trophy for the second time in four years, as a delayed, shortened final was somehow squeezed between the downpours. Over nine days, Somerset has now lost in the final of the T20 Blast, seen their pursuit of the County Championship title halted by defeat at Lancashire, and now been beaten in the One-Day Cup – a fate they might have avoided if the game had lasted just five more minutes, by which time the rain had returned.
Their target of 187 seemed achievable only when Sean Dickson, Archie Vaughan, and the occasional stroke of good fortune accelerated their chase in the closing stages. However, when Dickson fell with 15 balls remaining, his team still needed 32 runs; they managed barely half of them and lost by 15 runs. A miserably damp Sunday pushed the game into its reserve day. With the coachloads of fans who endured hours of relentless rainfall on the weekend having returned home, and a forecast that was even more dismal, only a handful of supporters were present when an extraordinary early-morning effort from the ground staff allowed play to start on schedule, with the game reduced to the minimum permissible 20 overs per side.
After losing the toss and then two wickets in two balls with the score still in single figures, Glamorgan gradually recovered and then accelerated rapidly. When Colin Ingram, their top scorer in the competition heading into the final, was dismissed for a run-a-ball 11 midway through the ninth over, their score stood at 65 for four, and reasons for optimism were as hard to find as sunshine. They limped to the halfway point of their innings without further loss, scoring a sober 71.
The trajectory of the innings changed with Billy Root’s partnership with Sam Northeast, who together added 78 off 50 balls. More than a third of those runs came off a single Kasey Aldridge over that went for 29, ending with a beamer that Northeast managed to pull for four while falling, and a subsequent free hit that was heaved down the ground for the over’s third six. Though Root fell soon afterwards, and the potentially destructive Dan Douthwaite followed three balls later in calamitous fashion, run out off a no-ball, Glamorgan’s innings was turbocharged to a daunting total once Timm van der Gugten joined Northeast in the middle. The Dutchman hit five of his nine deliveries to the boundary, once clearing it, to end with 26, while Northeast’s 49-ball 63 earned him the player of the match award.
Somerset may regret their decision not to bowl any spin, despite having two spinners in their side, and more than anything their inaccuracy with the ball: they gave away 15 extras, including nine wides, and received just three in return. Their innings started slowly, unlike their rivals, who never truly caught fire: it took them 15 balls to find a first boundary, and after five overs they were 23 for one, where their opponents had been 42 for two. Despite worsening conditions – a swirling white ball and a grey, misty sky are an unhelpful combination, as Kiran Carlson demonstrated in somehow dropping Ben Green in the 18th over – and rising tension – as Andy Gorvin demonstrated in somehow failing to run Green out moments later – the rain held off, and Glamorgan clung on.
