Glamorgan resurrected their hopes of reaching the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals with a tight victory over Worcestershire Royals at the SWALEC Stadium.
The hosts were indebted to half-centuries from Murray Goodwin and Jim Allenby as well as a match-winning cameo from Ben Wright, the trio helping chase 158 to secure a five-wicket triumph.
Glamorgan went into the match having lost three on the trot after winning all four of their first group games.
But they suffered three setbacks in the opening eight overs as they slipped to 46 for three in response to Worcestershire’s 157 for six.
The home side lost Mark Wallace in the second over before Chris Cooke was caught at third man and skipper Marcus North trapped leg before by Moeen Ali.
Even with Allenby looking in good form and Goodwin in support, they needed 100 from 10 overs.
Allenby took the pressure off by hitting a six off Shaaiq Choudhry and that started a good spell for Glamorgan as he and Goodwin shared a partnership of 57 off 43 balls for the fourth wicket.
But Allenby, who reached his fifty from 42 balls, holed out off Gareth Andrew. At that stage, Glamorgan needed 53 from 32 balls, which became 37 from the final four overs.
Goodwin brought up his half-century from 30 balls yet was caught off the last ball of the 17th over to leave Glamorgan still needing 18 from the final 12 balls.
But Wright, with 22 not out from 12 balls, delivered the goods to seal the home side’s success.
After Worcestershire won the toss, Thilan Samaraweera was the mainstay of the their innings with 65 from 42 balls, including eight fours and a six.
Having been restricted to only 27 for one in the opening six overs, bowled exclusively by the seamers on a greenish pitch, Samaraweera dominated a second-wicket stand with Alexei Kervezee worth 91 in 10.1 overs.
That was after Moeen was caught at cover off Graham Wagg, who ended as Glamorgan’s star bowler with 3-15 from four overs.
Worcestershire accelerated their score when the spinners were on; the slower bowlers conceded 98 runs from nine overs.
The visitors had looked well set thanks to Sri Lankan Samaraweera before he was run out by a direct hit from Goodwin in the 14th over with Worcestershire 103 for two.
West Indies international Andre Russell was bowled via an inside edge by Wagg and Nathan McCullum picked up the wicket of Kervezee in his final over.
Wagg claimed a third scalp when Joe Leach was caught on the deep midwicket boundary while Ben Cox fell in Michael Hogan’s final set of six.
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