CB40 Cricket: Confidence is misplaced as Glamorgan thrash Scotland

It certainly looked as though stand-in captain Preston Mommsen took the wrong option.

A total of 151-9 was never likely to be enough and the Welsh Dragons coasted to an easy eight-wicket victory to leave the Saltires rooted to the bottom of Group B.

Afterwards, Saltires assistant coach Tony Judd admitted they mis-read the pitch but still backed the decision to bat first.

He said: “It was obviously a very difficult wicket. It was slow and low and we didn’t read it.

“Having said that, we had opportunities to certainly make a lot more runs than we did and that’s disappointing. There were still a lot of soft dismissals despite the difficult conditions.”

However, Judd added: “Looking at the pitch this morning it was dry and had no grass, I would defy anyone not to say let’s go and post a big total on here. We mis-read how bad the bounce was going to be, but that would make me even more determined to bat first. It was only going to get worse. You could see the way [Majid] Haq bowled that there was enough turn that 220 would probably have won you the game.

“Defending such a low total we also needed to bowl a lot better up front. We knew they would come hard and we needed to execute our skills when the ball was hard.

“It’s disappointing, especially after how we played last week [against Bangladesh] and goes to show we still suffer a lot from  inconsistency.”

The Saltires will attempt to secure only their second win of the campaign when they entertain Durham at Uddingston on Sunday.

Gareth Rees led yesterday’s Welsh victory charge with a hard-hitting 60, but he was helped by some wayward bowling, especially from Gordon Goudie and Josh Davey, whose first over went for 17 runs.

Rees went on to finish unbeaten with seven boundaries and a colossal six off the unfortunate Davey as the county reached their target with 12 overs to spare.

Richie Berrington did pick up a couple of consolation wickets, while Majid Haq bowled with his customary guile.

Scotland had earlier failed to build on a steady start from Davey and Calum MacLeod. They had reached 27 in the sixth over when Davey chased a wide one from Simon Jones and edged to keeper Mark Wallace.

MacLeod then allowed frustration to get the better of him when he attempted to make room for a forcing shot only to be bowled by Jim Allenby.

Goudie, playing the pinch-hitting role in place of Jan Stander, faced just one delivery, which he drove into the hands of Stewart Walters at short cover.

Scotland’s predicament intensified when Berrington, a century hero in the victory over Bangladesh, was the second victim of Allenby’s military medium seamers. Berrington had stroked one glorious boundary through the offside when he played across a straight one and departed for six. Allenby took a simple return catch to remove Jean Symes for 11 and, at 54-5, the Saltires were in disarray.

Mommsen and Ewan Chalmers at least managed to steady the ship, but their progress was painfully slow as they added 70 for the sixth wicket.