Robert Croft admitted Glamorgan served up a “poor” display in front of their biggest crowd of the season as they crashed out of the NatWest T20 Blast on Thursday night.
The head coach saw his team outclassed by Yorkshire in their quarter-final at Cardiff’s Swalec Stadium – suffering a thumping defeat by 90 runs.
After a week of excitement and anticipation at the prospect of making the tournament finals day, it was a sobering defeat for Glamorgan – the heaviest ever suffered by a quarter-finalist in this competition.
Chasing Yorkshire’s 180, Glamorgan only got halfway there – bowled out for just 90 in 13 overs.
“We were poor tonight – everyone in that dressing room will hold their hands up to that,” said Croft.
“We thought at half way that 180 would be difficult, but we had a chance, because after 12 overs they had 137 on the board so that was a real character fight back.
“But the way we started with the bat was poor and we lost a wicket with the first ball and after that we were like dominos and never got a chance in the game.”
With a record breaking crowd of in excess of 10,000 at the game, Croft was quick to insist that fans should try and keep heart.
“I know people will be going home disappointed tonight, but please don’t lose faith. We’ll be trying hard as we can to give more days like this. I am pleased we’ve been able to bring games like this back to The Swalec.
“2004 was the last time we had an opportunity like this, but unfortunately it didn’t work for us tonight. Hopefully, the boys in that changing room, particularly the young ones they need games like this, the pressure of games like this to grow as a team and individuals.”
David Willey’s 79 from 38 balls powered Yorkshire Vikings into the Finals Day for just the second time.
England all-rounder Willey hammered seven fours and six sixes as Yorkshire raced to 134-2 in the 12th over after electing to bat.
Alex Lees’ side could only muster 46 runs from their final eight overs after Willey was bowled by Colin Ingram (4-32), but they skittled Glamorgan for 90 all out after Adil Rashid (4-26) polished off the hosts’ tail.
Yorkshire joined fellow North Group sides Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Durham at Edgbaston on Saturday, August 20. Yorkshire will play Durham in the semi-finals, with Notts tackling Northants.
Glamorgan skipper Jacques Rudolph said: “It’s quite a sad end to this campaign. At the break we thought 180 was potentially a par score if we got off to a good start as with shortened boundaries you can score 15 runs an over.
“It’s disappointing but there have been a lot of good performances this year. Colin Ingram has had an outstanding campaign with bat and ball and David Lloyd opening the batting has had some good innings.
“We’ve really got to stay strong going into these last six Championship games. When you’re not facing relegation there’s a danger, but between myself and Crofty, we’ll try to stay on top of our game.”