ECB Second XI T20 Championship Central Group, Glamorgan Second XI v Somerset Second XI, May 18th 2022, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff Glamorgan Second XI 133/5 (20 overs), Somerset Second XI 137/1, Will Smeed 76, Kasey Aldridge 51 not out. Somerset Second XI win by 9 wickets with 5.2 overs to spare
Somerset Second XI: Ben Green, George Bartlett, Roelof van der Merwe, Marchant de Lange, Lewis Goldsworthy, Will Smeed, Max Waller, Ned Leonard, Kasey Aldridge, Harry Fisher (Exeter University & Dorset) and Jay Terry (Somerset Player Pathway).
Glamorgan Second XI: RX Clarke, CZ Taylor, KS Carlson, CA Ingram, WT Root, JM Cooke, DA Douthwaite, TN Cullen*†, LJ Carey, P Sisodiya, JP McIlroy.
Somerset had two debutants at this level, Harry Fisher, keeping wicket in place of Jamie Baird and Jay Terry from the Somerset Players Pathway, who replaced Jack Brooks who was included in the first-team squad for the game against Hampshire starting on Thursday.
On paper they faced a stiff challenge against a Glamorgan side which, in the words of their official twitter, “won the toss and have chosen to bat first. Ingram, Carlson and Root….part of a star-studded Glamorgan 2nd XI 💪”.
It may have been on paper but on grass this incredibly promising Somerset Second XI completely overwhelmed their galactic opponents. The bowling unit managed to contain the strong batting line up to 133 within the 20 overs. Max Waller (4 overs 1/12), Ben Green 2/23 off 3 overs, MdeL 1/36 and Lewis Goldsworthy 1/9 restricted the Glamorgan innings to 33/2 in the power play and a meagre total of 133/5 after 20 overs, with debutant Harry Fisher completing 1 stumping and taking 2 catches.
A Glamorgan supporter thought (via the live stream chat) that this was 20 or so too short. It was probably 70 odd too short as the Will Smeed and Kasey Aldridge show took centre stage.
Continuing from where they left off in the Worcestershire game, Will Smeed (76 from 46 deliveries) and Kasey Aldridge (51 from 37 deliveries) all but saw Somerset home in an opening partnership of 111. Following the dismissal of Smeed (caught by Clarke bowled Cooke), Kasey and George Bartlett completed the victory in 14.4 overs.
What can we draw from this game beyond a second straight dominant win? Once again Aldridge opened the innings; is he being lined up for that position in the first team. While it is unlikely that he will feature at the start of The Blast campaign the coaches have clearly seen something they think they develop while Will Smeed continued his magnificent start to his white-ball season. Albeit from the viewpoint of a shaky live stream, it was clear to see the confidence in the team something that can only pervade through the whole club. With the start of the T20 campaign only a week away this was a perfect tune-up for several players who will hope to be in the side at Canterbury next Wednesday,
Still no Ollie Sale though. We can only speculate as to the reasons but it seems likely that he has no role in the white ball first team at present.
The full scorecard can be found here
