Compton sets up Middlesex victory

PRO40 DIVISION TWO, Swalec Stadium:
Middlesex 254-3 beat Glamorgan 191 by 63 runs (Middx 2pts)

Live scorecard

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Nick Compton has now hit 291 runs this season in five Pro 40 matches

Nick Compton clubbed the third one-day century of his career as Middlesex sauntered to a 63-run floodlit Pro40 win over Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens.

On a slow Cardiff pitch, Compton scored 121 from 105 balls as Middlesex, who won the toss, made 254-3.

After being 56-3, Glamorgan looked in the hunt when opener Gareth Rees (58) and top scorer Tom Maynard (69) put on 89 in 12 overs for the fourth wicket.

But their successive departures led to the home side slumping to 191 all out.

A fourth Pro40 win in five games kept unbeaten Division Two leaders Middlesex top of the table.

The platform for Compton's innings came in an opening stand of 105 in 19 overs with Dawid Malan.

Glamorgan had little answer to Middlesex's accumulation of runs. And it was a test for wicket-keeper Mark Wallace, leading his team for the first time in a one-day contest, deputising for skipper Jamie Dalrymple, who missed the meeting with his former county due to a stomach bug.

Malan beat Compton to his half century, reaching the landmark from 55 balls as the 100 came up in only 17.1 overs. But he eventually played one shot too many, caught at long-on off slow left armer Dean Cosker.

And although veteran spinner Robert Croft producing an economic spell of eight overs for 33 runs, Compton maintained the momentum, taking this season's Pro40 tally to an impressive 291 runs in five matches.

He even celebrated his 100 in style with an extraordinary shot, a lap for six over fine leg.

Glamorgan's reply stumbled in the space of five overs.

Opener Will Bragg was caught behind off Tim Murtagh attempting a sweep and Tyron Henderson then broke through, bowling Glamorgan's two overseas turns, new Aussie signing James Allenby and South African Test star Herschelle Gibbs.

Rees, who had been dropped at slip from the first ball of the innings, put his side's chase back on course with Maynard, who got it down to 151 needed from the final 20 overs.

But their productive fourth wicket partnership was ended when Rees was caught at backward point.

Glamorgan were given renewed hope as Maynard hit Malan for three consecutive fours. But Maynard's brave effort ended in spectacular fashion when he was run out coming back for a second to a direct hit by Morgan who only had one stump to aim at.

And once Wallace was bowled, second-from-bottom Glamorgan's hopes of their first win in this season's Pro 40 were gone.