Mason Crane Praised After Lifting Glamorgan Close To Unlikely Win

By Gareth James

Glamorgan coach Grant Bradburn believes his team can take much from their narrow home Vitality County Championship defeat to Middlesex.

The visitors secured a two-wicket victory at Sophia Gardens with Mark Stoneman top-scoring in a win that came right down to the last few overs on the fourth day.

Glamorgan were miles behind in this match before 48 runs and five wickets from Mason Crane took them close to victory in a thrilling finish on the final evening.

Bradburn said: “We weren’t really back in the game until the last moments in our mind.

“We were behind from session one to session 12, so to be in contention was a real credit to the character and skills our team showed.

“It’s a loss and it’s pleasing to see the boys have taken it quite heavily, which is good in some ways, but we’re not going to carry that forward.”

Congratulations @masoncrane32 on a fantastic 5-fer in this fascinating fightback

Watch live: https://t.co/UXTMeYNVUI #OhGlammyGlammy | #GLAvMID pic.twitter.com/4mqmaiOjjy

— Glamorgan Cricket (@GlamCricket) May 20, 2024

Middlesex looked to be cruising to victory before a collapse of four for 15 put them in real danger of defeat but they managed to sneak home to claim the win thanks to a 52-run stand for the penultimate wicket between Tom Helm and Jack Davies.

This win gives Middlesex 21 points from this game with Glamorgan securing just two bowling bonus points.

Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones said: “We are chuffed to bits. We felt we were in control after the first two days.

“It was an impressive Glamorgan fightback and in that third innings of the match, we were working hard against two top-class batters and trying to be as disciplined as possible.

“We managed to finish the job after being set a testing total on a tough wicket to play spin on.

“Rocky (Mark Stoneman) has led from the front in both innings and credit to Davo (Jack Davies) and Helmy (Tom Helm) to get us over the line with an incredible effort.”

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As was the case in the first innings, runs from Zain-ul-Hassan and Crane kept Glamorgan in the hunt in this match.

The pair had been the top-scorers in Glamorgan’s under-par batting efforts on day one, and here they put on a stand of 61 to take the lead past 200.

Zain was the first to go when he turned a ball into the leg side for an easy catch for Ryan Higgins off the bowling of Ethan Bamber for 34, the same score he managed in the first innings.

Crane looked to take the fight to Middlesex as he batted with Andy Gorvin. The pair had put on another 17 runs when Gorvin gave a catch to point off the bowling of Luke Hollman.

It was also Hollman who claimed the final wicket when he dismissed Crane for 48 with a thick edge that was well taken by wicket-keeper, Davies.

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Middlesex started their chase brightly with Sam Robson and Stoneman putting on a stand worth 65.

Robson was the first wicket to fall when he was dismissed by Andy Gorvin for 31. He chopped the ball on to his stumps, the sixth time this had happened in this match as the two-paced nature of this Cardiff surface continued to make an impact.

Crane got the ball to turn big once he was introduced to the attack and he made the next breakthrough when he spun one past an attempted sweep from Max Holman to bowl him for 28.

Crane had a huge shout for lbw against Leus du Plooy which was turned down, but Harris got him in the very next over when he struck his pads in front and the umpire gave the decision in the bowler’s favour.

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Crane had Higgins caught behind for 1 and as the game headed into the final session the match it was nicely poised with Glamorgan needing six wickets on a pitch that was getting increasingly hard to bat on and Middlesex still 93 runs short of their victory target.

Crane made another breakthrough when he had Nathan Fernandes caught at slip but the moment that created this thrilling finish was when Gorvin got Stoneman caught by Cooke for 63.

Two wickets in two balls from Crane to dismiss both Toby Roland-Jones and Luke Hollman without scoring left this game on a knife edge before the ninth wicket stand between Davies and Helm took Middlesex to victory with just five overs left in the match.

https://twitter.com/GlamCricket/status/1792503299725300074