Dragons end drought

David Harrison removed James Hildreth as Glamorgan's long wait ended at Taunton

Glamorgan Dragons claimed their first Friends Provident Trophy victory over a first-class county since 2001 as they beat Somerset Sabres by 19 runs at Taunton.

After the visitors had posted a seemingly below-par 221 for seven, built around a fine innings of 95 from skipper David Hemp, the Sabres were bowled out for 202 to suffer their first defeat of the season.

Glamorgan lost the toss and after being put into bat on a warm but overcast day, openers Matthew Wood and Hemp found scoring difficult.

With the total on 17, left-arm seamer Charl Willoughby accounted for Wood when he edged a ball to wicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter.

That brought Michael Powell and Hemp together and for the next 19 overs the second-wicket pair added 91 runs before James Hildreth accounted for Powell, caught by Kieswetter for 32.

At 108 for two in the 26th over, Glamorgan looked set for a sizeable total but were restricted by some accurate Somerset bowling.

Pete Trego captured the all-important wicket of Hemp for 95, when he hung on to a sharp caught-and-bowled chance after the visitors’ captain had faced 119 balls and hit 11 fours.

The Somerset bowlers kept the pressure up until the end and limited the visitors to just 30 runs from the last five overs as they took the total to 221 for seven.

For the Sabres, debutant Alfonso Thomas ended with 2-43, while Willoughby bowled his 10-over stint for a miserly 27, which included a wicket and two maidens.

Chasing what appeared to be a modest total the Sabres’ openers found it far from easy against Jason Gillespie and David Harrison.

Marcus Trescothick and Kieswetter took the score on to 30, when in the 10th over the former England man was bowled by Alex Wharf for 15.

New South African signing Zander de Bruyn was run out by Hemp after a mix up with the score on 37, and two runs later Kieswetter was caught at extra cover by Tom Maynard for 18.

James Hildreth was leg before wicket to David Harrison for two and the Sabres found themselves 45 for four.

Big-hitting Ian Blackwell gave the crowd something to cheer about when he struck the first two sixes of the game, one off Wharf and the second off Jamie Dalrymple, as he added 28 with Justin Langer.

But with the score on 73, the Somerset captain was caught at short extra cover by Dean Cosker off Dalrymple for seven.

While Blackwell and Wes Durston remained together Somerset looked likely to get back into the game, but with the total on 98 Blackwell was leg before to Cosker for 42.

Durston was caught and bowled by Cosker for 15, which brought Thomas in to join Trego.

The eighth-wicket pair added 39 with the debutant in particular playing some entertaining shots before he was leg before to Dalrymple after making 16.

Trego hit an entertaining 30 before he was caught at deep extra cover by Ben Wright off Wharf, after which Steffan Jones stepped up and hit three sixes to keep local interest alive.

Somerset hopes were finally extinguished, however, when Jones was caught by Wood at long on off Harrison for a 42 which came from 36 balls.

The pick of the Glamorgan attack was Dalrymple who ended with 3-47 off his 10 overs, while Wharf took 3-42.