Kiran Carlson turned Sophia Gardens into a launchpad on Tuesday, smashing 109 from 45 balls as Glamorgan overhauled Somerset's 171-9 with more than six overs left in the chase. The 19-boundary assault, including 13 fours and six sixes, gave Glamorgan a win that felt far more emphatic than the scoreline alone suggested.

The innings mattered because Carlson, 17-year-old Joe Moores and the rest of Lancashire's young talent could have been the side story in a busy T20 Blast round, but instead the headline belonged to a batter who posted his second T20 century and did it against the reigning champions. Somerset had arrived in Cardiff with two wins from two and seemed well set when Tom Banton cracked 59 from 25 balls to carry them to 100-2 at the halfway stage, but Glamorgan broke the innings apart late and never let the chase drift.

Mason Crane took 3-42 for Glamorgan and removed James Rew, while Nathan McAndrew made a striking debut by taking 4-15, including two wickets in the final over. Somerset still made 171-9, a total that usually asks questions of a chasing side, but Carlson answered them so violently that Glamorgan were able to finish with time to spare and without any real last-over drama.

That is what made the result more than just an individual flourish. Somerset had been the form side of the early season, and the defending champions were expected to impose themselves again in a match that opened with their top order moving briskly. Instead, Glamorgan found the game’s decisive burst at both ends: Crane and McAndrew squeezed the middle and death overs, then Carlson blew the target away before the finish became complicated.

Elsewhere in the same round, Yorkshire beat Durham by 58 runs to go top of the North Group and make it three wins from three, Worcestershire Rapids handed Warwickshire Bears a third straight defeat, Derbyshire Falcons beat Notts Outlaws by 23 runs after Aneurin Donald’s 84 off 31 deliveries and Martin Andersson’s 69 not out, and Leicestershire Foxes edged Lancashire Lightning by two wickets. But the result in Cardiff carried its own weight: Glamorgan did not just beat Somerset, they did it by chasing a strong total in control, with Carlson's 109 setting the standard for the rest of the competition to chase.