Gloucestershire 172 for 7 (Salter 4-12) tied with Glamorgan 172 for 5 (Fakhar 58)
Glamorgan’s Andrew Salter returned the superb figures of 4 for 12 in three overs, including a first-ball wicket and three more in the space of seven deliveries, but AJ Tye battled back for Gloucestershire to seal a thilling tie in the Vitality Blast clash at Cardiff.
Gloucestershire, set a daunting 173 for victory following a brisk half-century from Fakhar Zaman and a turbo-charged 42 from 21 balls from Chris Cooke, suffered a terrible start when Miles Hammond was deceived by Salter’s offspin, knocking a simple catch back to the bowler off the first ball of the innings.
Two overs later, the visitors lost their second wicket, when James Bracey was caught off Marchant De Lange on the midwicket boundary.
Gloucestershire were 46 for 2 after six overs, but in the next over Michael Klinger edged Dan Douthwaite’s fifth ball to the wicketkeeper, and with Graham Wagg conceding just three runs from his first over, Glamorgan’s bowlers held the upper hand.
After ten overs Gloucestershire required a further 100 runs, but Cockbain raised their spirits by taking 14 runs from Wagg’s third over before Salter burst back into the action, ending his stay for an aggressive 40.
With five overs left, the visitors required 57, but Salter struck twice more in three balls to dismiss Higgins and Jack Taylor. Billy Root held on to a low catch at mid-wicket to dismiss Higgins before Taylor drove to long-on.
Tye, however, was not done yet, and hauled Gloucestershire back into contention with a violent innings of 38 from 19 balls, including three fours and a six.
He struck De Lange’s penultimate over for 19, though he was also dropped by Colin Ingram in the process, a simple chance at mid-off. With 14 needed in the final over, Benny Howell smashed Lukas Carey for six to keep his side in the hunt, only to fall the next ball, but Tye scrambled Gloucestershire to parity with a brace of twos off the final two balls of the innings, and deny Glamorgan their first win of the Blast campaign.