Oxfordshire's dreams of a NatWest Trophy glamour tie with Essex were dashed by defeat in Cardiff yesterda, writes Richard Tilley.

Victory over Wales would have brought Oxon a third-round clash against an Essex side containing England captain Nasser Hussain and Aussie batsman Stuart Law at Banbury on June 21.

But the Welsh, featuring ex-West Indies Test all-rounder Phil Simmons and several other former first-class players, romped to an eight-wicket win after bowling the visitors out for a paltry 120.

"We're disappointed because we didn't perform," said Oxon skipper Rob Williams.

"The wicket was not a good one for this sort of game, and we needed to really get a score which would test them, like 180 or 200.

"But they had bowlers who really suited the wicket - slowish bowlers who put it on the spot." And Williams rejected the suggestion that he might have been better off choosing to bowl when he won the toss - as captains are inclined to do in this competition.

"Not a chance," he said. "It was a hard and flat track - just like a County Championship game on the fourth day - and the only thing it could do was get worse and worse. Glamorgan got bowled out on it for 60-odd the other day, and there were patches out there where you could see that the ball had gone through the top.

"But we're not blaming the wicket. We just batted poorly, and they bowled very well, while our bowlers didn't bowl one side of the wicket, apart from Keith Arnold."

**Match report: See separate story in Sport section