The Kent Spitfires slid to their fourth defeat in their opening six Natwest T20 Blast games on Friday night.

A rain affected game at the SSE SWALEC was dominated by a fantastic innings from David Lloyd who made a career best 97 not out as Glamorgan posted a formidable total of 175-4 from the 16 overs available to them.

Lloyd put together a partnership with Colin Ingram that was worth 132 in under 10 overs that was match winning.

Having been set a target that would require them to score in excess of 11 an over from the very first over it was always a mountainous task for Kent, and when Glamorgan’s Dale Steyn claimed three early wickets there was only one winner as the Welsh county claimed victory by a massive 55 runs.

Having been promoted to open in limited overs cricket this season Lloyd has gone from strength to strength. He made his maiden List A fifty against these same opponents last week and here he breezed past his previous best Twenty20 score of 31 in no time and accelerated from there.

While it will be Lloyd’s near hundred that gets most of the plaudits the efforts of Ingram cannot be overlooked. When he came to the crease Glamorgan were 12-1 and David Griffiths was finding swing and seam movement. Ingram has made 95 not out and 85 in his last two innings and his 60 here was a continuation of that fine form.

He brought up his half century of just 21 balls and struck four sixes. It was in pursuit of another maximum that he fell, attempting to hit James Tredwell over long on, well caught by Alex Blake.

There was a stuttering end to the Glamorgan innings and they looked set for even more than their 175 with Lloyd marching towards a maiden century, but late wickets curtailed their scoring. No batsmen other than Lloyd and Ingram found a way to make run scoring look easy on this Cardiff pitch.

When Kent came out to bat they needed to get off to the best possible start and they had the opposite. Dale Steyn conceded just one run, a wide, and took the wicket of Daniel Bell-Drummond who was dismissed for a five ball duck. Steyn bowled three consecutive overs from the River Taff End and claimed a victim in each of them as Kent stumbled to 30-3 at the end of the fifth over.

Things only got worse from there for the visitors as Joe Denly and Darren Stevens fell cheaply. A spirited innings of 30 from Alex Blake held up the inevitable for a time, but when he fell attempting to hit a Colin Ingram long hop into the stands only to find the waiting hands of Graham Wagg at mid wicket, all hope was lost.

This was a chastening defeat for Kent who have relished big chases like this one in the NatWest T20 Blast so far this season, but in truth they never came close to challenging the target that they had been set.

Speaking after the game Lloyd pointed out that it was the type of pitch that was difficult to start on but was also keen to praise the impact of Ingram on the innings and his performance.

“It was just one of those days where it seemed to click and everything seemed to go my way. It was one of those wickets in Cardiff where it take you a few overs to get in and to get yourself used to the pitch, today it took me a while to get going and then the runs came from there.

“[Ingram’s] first over went for 13 or 14 and that really took the pressure of me and having him at the other end helps a lot with tactics and stuff like that.

“I was fine [with not getting to a hundred], as long as I am contributing to the team that is the main thing that matters, and you would take that at the start of the day.”

Glamorgan remain top of the South Group with just one loss in six matches and a net run rate that is far superior to any other team in the group. If they keep up this T20 form over the coming weeks a home Quarter Final will be assured.

The two teams will now face one another in the County Championship beginning on Sunday.