GLAMORGAN failed to record a hat-trick of NatWest T20 Blast wins after being thrashed by Gloucestershire in the top-of-the-table clash in Cardiff.

The two sides were only separated by net run rate coming into the match but in-form Gloucestershire claimed the outright leadership after a crushing nine-wicket victory at the SSE SWALEC.

Three wickets for Graeme van Buuren and tight bowling from Benny Howell and Tom Smith restricted Glamorgan to 119 for six after the hosts had decided to bat first.

It was never enough runs to defend and an unbeaten stand of 97 between captain Michael Klinger (56 not out) and Ian Cockbain (53no) took Gloucestershire home with 23 balls to spare.

A slow pitch with low bounce confronted the teams at Cardiff and it was surprising that Glamorgan chose to bat on a surface that was used for the match against Sussex on Thursday night.

A steady batting powerplay took Glamorgan, who beat Sussex and then Middlesex on Friday, to 40 without loss but the introduction of spin helped the visitors take control.

Slow left-armer Van Buuren took two wickets in his first over, and they were those of Glamorgan's two in-form T20 batsmen. First David Lloyd (22) looped the ball off a leading edge to Klinger at mid-off and then two deliveries later Colin Ingram (four) was pinned lbw by a Van Buuren quicker ball.

From there the Glamorgan batsmen struggled to find any timing against some clever Gloucestershire bowling.

It became clear very early on in the match that pace off the ball was the way to go, and the Gloucestershire attack was perfectly suited to doing just that. Howell conceded just 13 runs from his four overs of medium pace, while Van Buuren finished with figures of three for 19 and his fellow slow left-armer Smith took two for 13 off three overs..

It looked as if Glamorgan would fail to reach 100 runs, but an innings of 32 off 23 balls from Graham Wagg that included the only two sixes of the innings helped them set 120 runs to win. Wagg scored 18 runs off the 20th over, bowled by Andrew Tye, to give his team a chance, albeit a slim one.

A Glamorgan attack that featured the pace of Shaun Tait and Timm van der Gugten was far less equipped to cause real issues on this tired Cardiff pitch, and the extra pace allowed the Gloucestershire batsmen to time the ball with much greater ease than the opposition.

The early wicket of Hamish Marshall, well caught down the legside by Mark Wallace off the bowling of Van der Gugten, gave Glamorgan some hope but from there Gloucestershire cruised to victory - their sixth in their last eight T20 matches.

With a lack of slower bowling options available to him Jacques Rudolph brought himself on to bowl his part-time legspin for the first time in the T20 Blast this season in attempt to try something different. By then the run rate was down to four an over and there was no need for Gloucestershire to take any risks.

This defeat is a setback for Glamorgan but they still have four matches left in this competition and are well placed to secure a quarter-final spot.

For Gloucestershire one more win from their remaining two matches and they are mathematically certain of qualification for the knockout stages.