T20 Blast: Chris Cooke hits Glamorgan’s fastest-ever T20 century as Glamorgan beat Middlesex

Chris Cooke hit Glamorgan’s fastest-ever T20 century off just 38 balls as they beat Middlesex by 29 runs in a run feast at Northwood.

Middlesex fought back hard through Joe Cracknell (77) and Stevie Eskinazi (59).

But once the opening partnership fell, the home side could not keep up the momentum and finished on 209-5.

The stand of 187 between Ingram and Cooke was the highest-ever partnership for Glamorgan in the 21 seasons of T20 cricket, and the highest fourth-wicket stand by any county, while Cooke’s tally of 19 boundaries in his innings was also a Glamorgan record.

The game started with Middlesex in control as Glamorgan struggled to 20-2 in four overs, and they were 51-3 in the seventh when Blake Cullen (2-23) dismissed Kiran Carlson for 16.

Ingram and Cooke rebuilt sensibly to start with, with the total standing at 84 after 11 overs.

But 154 more came off the final nine overs as two experienced batters ran riot on a small ground, Cooke celebrating breaking Glamorgan’s appearances record (138) as well as his own 37th birthday the previous day.

Cooke was dropped on the boundary by Pieter Malan on 57 off Tom Helm and reacted by hitting the next four balls for 20.

He raced from 50 to 100 in only 12 balls with some remarkable straight striking to register Glamorgan’s seventh century in the shortest format.

Cooke finished with 12 fours and seven sixes, achieving the rare distinction of out-hitting Ingram who himself struck seven fours and six sixes.

Glamorgan’s superb exhibition of power stroke-play on the small out-ground could have left Middlesex shell-shocked, but Cracknell and Eskinazi came out all guns blazing as they took 77 runs off the power-play overs.

At halfway 129 was on the board and with all their wickets standing Middlesex were suddenly and almost unbelievably favourites.

Cracknell equalled his previous best T20 score but with the score on 146, he was neatly stumped by Cooke off Australian spinner Peter Hatzoglou, his first wicket for the county.

Eskinazi fell in the next over, reverse-sweeping Prem Sisodiya to short third man and the game had switched momentum again.

Sisodiya had Max Holden caught for 11 and Middlesex needed 70 off the last five, though they could still not be written off given previous events.

But spinners Hatzoglou (2-28) and Sisodiya (2-34) did enough to check the charge with their wickets proving crucial, as the new batters could not hit their stride quickly enough to get Middlesex close.

Glamorgan’s Chris Cooke told BBC Sport Wales:

“Not a bad way to celebrate my birthday and appearances record, I’m really glad we got over the line in the end, and I guess it was one of those days where everything comes off the middle of the bat which is nice.

“A T20 hundred wasn’t really on my radar, I’m a bit speechless but really chuffed we can go 2-1 up (two wins from three).

“It was about hitting strong shots, trying to hit the gaps since it was a quick-scoring ground. Colin and I just got into a really nice rhythm.

“It was quite frantic out there (in the Middlesex innings) but hats off to Pete (Hatzoglou), the way he bowled got us back in the game. We always knew a few wickets would get us back in the game and put pressure on the new batters.”

Colin Ingram, scorer of Glamorgan’s previous fastest hundred:

“I thoroughly enjoyed watching Chris bat. Over the last few years we all know Chris can hit in that way and coming up the order gives him a bit more of an opportunity to do it more often.

“I was extremely excited for him today and it was great to be at the non-striker’s end to watch that sort of innings.”

Middlesex batter Joe Cracknell said:

“We always know at out-grounds there’s going to be a few more runs scored, but hats off to Cooke and Ingram, some of the striking was phenomenal.

“I don’t think even if it was a big stadium, any boundary would be big enough.

“We got ourselves in a position with the bat where we thought we could have chased it and anything was possible, but regular wickets slowed the run-rate slightly and unfortunately we were on the wrong end of the result again.”