Date-stamped : 15 Aug95 - 22:27 NatWest Trophy Semi Final: Glamorgan v Warwickshire Cardiff, 15 August 1995 Glamorgan have glum day thanks to Munton By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Cardiff Warwickshire (88-2) bt Glamorgan (86) by 8 wkts "EVERYONE in Wales has been looking forward to this game," said Hugh Morris before the start, with only a little exaggeration. Everything seemed so propitious when he won the toss and batted on a biscuit-coloured pitch, carefully prepared to draw the sting of Allan Donald and to suit the slower, nagging sort of bowlers who had helped Glamorgan reach the verge of their first appear- ance in a Lord`s final for 18 years. The magnificent trees around Sophia Gardens still wore the gloss of high summer and around 6,000, the absolute limit until developments begin, were packed together in amiable expectation. Two-and-a-half hours later all that the home supporters had to celebrate was the perfection of the weather. If the lack of pace in the pitch had not suited Donald, it had certainly not bothered Tim Munton, who achieved in the semi-final exactly what he had in the quarter, a spell of such stifling accuracy that Dermot Reeve saw no need to take him off. By the time that he had added fi- gures of 12-7-18-2 to his 12-6-13-1 against Derbyshire, the game was virtually condemned to anticlimax. Warwickshire won, typically by means of a reverse sweep, off the first ball of the 25th over at 3.30 by eight wickets. It was surely the earliest end to a semi-final since the very first year of the 65-over Gillette Cup in 1963, when Jack Flavell bowled Lancashire out for 59 at Worcester. There was no such spectacular individual performance yesterday, although Munton duly collected another man-of-the-match award. He bowled not a single bad ball and did just a little either way off the pitch. He epitomises the professional excellence and as- surance, although not the occasional bombast, of Warwickshire; but he was by no means alone in contributing to a Welsh humilia- tion which made what should have been a great occasion a sad an- ticlimax. In feeling sorry for Glamorgan, it would be wrong to underesti- mate the formidable nature of Warwickshire`s cricket Trevor Penney`s brilliance at cover led to two wasteful run-outs; Keith Piper sparkled behind the stumps, his blue sun-glasses resting on the peak of his cap like Toad`s goggles; Donald bowled as well as was necessary, and the spinners, Neil Smith and the lesser-known Ashley Giles, revelled in turning the screw. In feeling sorry for Glamorgan, it would be wrong to underesti- mate the formidable nature of Warwickshire`s cricket. This was their 13th successive win in one-day cricket and such is the con- fidence, efficiency and versatility of their cricket at present that they have a realistic chance of repeating last year`s unique achievement of winning three of the four county titles. What is certain is that this will be their third successive appearance in the NatWest final: it was the one trophy which eluded them last season. Four of last year`s team for the final were missing yesterday, which proves that nothing stands still in a side led by Reeve. Correctly assessing the pitch, he preferred Giles to Paul Smith and the tall, 22-year-old left-armer duly picked up three for 14. Fast or slow, seamer or turner, Lord`s will suit Warwickshire. Their batting without Brian Lara is possibly less foolproof, but it was hardly put to the test yesterday. Morris himself must have known how it would play, but Glamorgan had been beaten here in the Sunday League by Warwickshire when he put them in, so he cannot be blamed for trying the other route. Perhaps the debacle would not have occurred if he had not been given out caught behind in Munton`s first over when replays sug- gested that the bat had glanced his pad rather than the ball. If that is the case, it was an augury. Steve James was deftly caught in front of first slip off a rapid away-swinger, but it was only when Matthew Maynard was run out that Welsh hearts truly began to sink. Maynard had hit his first ball crisply off his toes for four and David Hemp, playing cleanly down the line off his front foot, had already given an indication that he was in form. At 34 in the 12th over, however, he pushed Munton to cover, Maynard appeared to think he was embarking on a run and reacted with fatalistic immobility as Penney threw down the stumps at the bowler`s end. It was a procession after that. The awkwardness of the pitch was evident as much from the fact that Tony Cottey, who has 1,371 first-class runs at 54 this season, batted 12 overs for five runs, as from a total boundary count of eight in a sorry total of 86. Steve Barwick, who would certainly be an imaginative choice for England`s World Cup squad, responded by bowling with customary skill on a pitch made for his slow-medium off-cutters. Nick Knight skied to mid-off and Neil Smith drove to mid-wicket, but Warwickshire could have been forgiven a hearty laugh when the Glamorgan scorer announced to the crowd at the end that the coun- ty would be taking on the Rest of the World at Pontypridd on Fri- day. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)