Eoin Morgan sparkles in crushing victory

Middlesex 213 for 4 (Morgan 79*, Gilchrist 51) beat Glamorgan 129 (Smith 4-23, Udal 3-24) by 84 runs
Scorecard

Eoin Morgan hit an unbeaten 79 off 34 balls as Middlesex thrashed Glamorgan by 84 runs to claim their third successive victory and move into a challenging position in the Friends Provident t20 South division. Morgan's onslaught, which included five sixes and seven fours, took Middlesex to a total of 213 for 4 - their highest in this form of cricket.

However, the success was set up by Adam Gilchrist, who has taken over the captaincy from Shaun Udal on his return to Richmond - the club where he played as a 17-year-old. Gilchrist had made 29 out of 50 in five overs by the time David Brown gave Glamorgan some respite by taking two wickets in three balls. He bowled David Warner for 13 and then had Neil Dexter smartly stumped by Mark Wallace.

There seemed to be no stopping him as he raced to 50 off 29 balls with three sixes, two off James Harris and one off Shaun Tait, and six fours - but then he tried to turn Robert Croft on the legside and was leg before wicket for 51.

That only brought in Morgan - who was soon displaying his array of improvised shots, including a carve for six off Tait and a scoop for four off Jim Allenby, as well as more conventional strokes which brought him a six and four fours in one over from Brown. Morgan and Owais Shah had put on 88 in eight overs when Shah was caught by Brown at midwicket off James Harris for 30 and Morgan went on to add another 43 off the last three overs with Dawid Malan.

To make it harder for Glamorgan to bear, Malan was badly dropped at mid-off by Dean Cosker off Allenby in the penultimate over and he made them pay by hitting Tait for two sixes and four fours to finish unbeaten on 27.

Glamorgan made a brisk enough start but once Mark Cosgrove had been well caught by Dexter, running in from deep square leg, wickets fell regularly against Middlesex's slow bowlers.

Dexter picked up two in four balls when he bowled Allenby and had Tom Maynard stumped, Tom Smith took four for 23 with his left arm spin and Udal showed he still has plenty to offer as an off-spinner by claiming 3 for 24 as Glamorgan slumped to 129 all out in 17 overs.