Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne shone with both bat and ball as Glamorgan comfortably claimed a 13-point victory over Kent Spitfires in their Vitality Blast clash in Canterbury.
In a rain-affected match, Glamorgan reached 6-145 from 13 overs, with Labuschagne scoring an unbeaten 50 from 26 balls before claiming an economical 1-14.
Sam Billings scored 33 off 17 balls, but Kent struggled to keep up with a run rate of over 11 per over.
Two wickets from Timm van der Gugten in the 11th over dashed the Spitfires’ already slim hopes and they finished the game with 5-132.
Neither team had a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals and heavy rain delayed the start until 8pm local time, shortening the game to 13 overs per team.
The visitors had to bat from the start and attacked before a collection of wickets temporarily slowed the run rate.
From 3-52, Labuschagne and Colin Ingram countered with a 54-run stand that ended when Joey Evison had the latter caught for 26 off 13 balls.
Labuschagne fought his way to a half-century in the last over.
Mason Crane took the wicket of Daniel Bell-Drummond for 27 before Labuschagne bowled Marcus O’Riordan as Kent fell short of the required quota.
Billings hit a six off Crane which landed on the roof of the Cowdrey Stand and William Smale dropped Jack Leaning, but the economic situation in Glamorgan meant the odds got out of control.
Kent needed 54 from the last three overs and the pressure forced Billings into an ugly shot that van der Gugten chipped to Kiran Carlson at covers.
Van der Gugten then had Leaning caught in deep square for 11 and although Tom Rogers had some fun, his unbeaten 31 off 12 raised the question of why he had not batted higher up the order.
Kent needed an improbable 29 from Dan Douthwaite’s last over but managed only 15 runs.