EBBW VALE, Wales (CMC)
Glamorgan got sizzling half centuries from captain David Kemp and Mark Cosgrove to beat West Indies A by four wickets with three balls to spare in a thrilling one-day tour match yesterday.
Electing to bat first, West Indies A posted a solid 326 for six declared, with Devon Smith cracking a superb hundred, but saw their winless streak on the tour stretch to five games when the Welsh county blasted 328 for six off 49.3 overs at Eugene Cross Park.
Hemp stroked 79 not out and Cosgrove hit 69 to lead the Glamorgan batting.
Lendl Simmons and Smith had launched the West Indies A innings with a breezy opening stand of 106 in 18.1 overs, with Simmons in particular attacking the bowling with some wristy strokeplay.
Simmons was first to go, for 61 off 60 balls with 11 boundaries. The in-form Runako Morton joined Smith and spanked 89 off 84 balls with seven fours and two sixes.
Smith reached his deserved century from 113 balls before being run out by Watkins for 135 after hitting 19 boundaries.
Dwayne Smith then added some late impetus, striking two sixes and a four in his 25 from 14 balls as the tourists moved past the 300-mark.
In Glamorgan's reply, Cosgrove and Richard Grant (26) plundered 63 in the opening ten overs.
Sammy eventually removed Grant but the left-handed Australian Cosgrove stroked his 69 off just 50 balls with 13 fours and one six.
Hemp reached his solid fifty from 56 balls and had compiled six fours and two sixes when his 77-ball 79 steered Glamorgan to victory with their highest ever score batting second, beating the previous best 314 for two against the British Universities at Cambridge in a Benson and Hedges Cup match in 1996.
Sammy, with two for 47 off 10 overs, and Dwayne Smith, two for 58 off nine, were the chief wicket-takers for West Indies A, who had made two changes to their side that lost by 30 runs to Derbyshire on Sunday - replacing Ryan Hinds and Tino Best with wicket-keeper/batsman Patrick Browne and pacer Daren Powell.
The West Indies reserves have not won on the tour since beating Durham by eight wickets in the tour opener. They drew with Leicestershire and lost to Warwickshire in three-day games, and also went down to Worcestershire and Derbyshire in one-day fixtures before this latest defeat.
West Indies A next play Pakistan in a two-day fixture this weekend.
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