Sublime Solanki sets up thrashing

Vikram Solanki salutes the applause for his century which occupied just 47 balls

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A 47-ball century by Vikram Solanki revived Worcestershire’s hopes of a quarter-final place in the Twenty20 Cup in a crushing 101-run victory over group strugglers Glamorgan at New Road.

After piling up 222 for four, Worcestershire restricted their opponents to 121 for six and moved alongside Northamptonshire, Somerset and Warwickshire in a four-way tie on 10 points at the top of the table

Solanki, one of three Worcestershire players in the England Lions squad to meet Australia on their home ground next week, treated the crowd to a marvellous exhibition of systematic hitting.

Five consecutive fours off Garnett Kruger in the fourth over the innings began the massacre as Glamorgan folded to their seventh defeat in eight games and the sixth in a row since their only group win against Gloucestershire.

Few players time their shots as well as Solanki and, although not quite fulfilled with two hundreds in 51 One-Day Internationals, he continues to be among the most destructive batsmen in the county game.

His first century in the short format – packed with 14 fours and two sixes – took him beyond 1,000 runs in Twenty20 cricket and gave Worcestershire the impetus to go past 200 for the fourth time in the competition.

England Lions team-mates Steve Davies (32) and Stephen Moore, who made his 49 from only 30 balls, were not overshadowed in successive partnerships that lifted Worcestershire to 168 for two when Solanki was out for 100 in the 15th over.

Michael Powell was in position to claim a comfortable chance for the first of two dismissals at long-on as off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple escaped from the mauling with 2-34.

Tom Maynard’s overhead stretch to bring down a drive from Moeen Ali was much the more spectacular.

If Glamorgan were underdogs at the start of their reply, they quickly became no-hopers after losing three wickets for nine runs in the first three overs.

Kabir Ali (1-4 from two overs) and Chris Whelan brushed aside the openers, Maynard and Dalrymple, before Moore ran out Mark Wallace with an underarm throw from close range. Ashley Noffke went wicketless but his two overs cost as runs.

A tidy spell of spin by Gareth Batty (2-28) accelerated the slide and not even Robert Croft’s unbeaten 52 from 34 balls could save Glamorgan from their biggest defeat by a runs margin in the Twenty20 Cup.