Winning start to the season for Glamorgan
Well, I’m still in the office after a very busy afternoon of pre-examination stuff. It’s raining very heavily outside so I thought I’d dash off a post while I hope for the deluge to abate.
I was busy yesterday afternoon too, but during the meeting I was at I kept a tab on my web browser open to follow the final afternoon of Glamorgan’s first County Championship match of the season against Gloucestershire, over the River Severn in Bristol. When I got back to the office I continued to follow on the Radio. It turned out to be quite an exciting finish.
Having bowled out Gloucestershire for 236 in the first innings and scored 522 for 9 declared in reply, Glamorgan then had Gloucestershire in deep trouble at 133 for 5 going into the final day. An innings victory for Glamorgan looked a racing certainty but Gloucestershire’s lower-order played very well indeed, not only defending capably but scoring runs reasonably quickly (no doubt against very attacking fields); for the first three days the scoring rate was less than three an over, but that’s pretty typical for the county championship. When Gloucestershire were finally all out they had reached 372, requiring Glamorgan to bat again.
The target of 83 to win off 21 overs looks on paper to have been easy, but the weather was drawing in and there was no chance of all 21 overs actually being bowled. In the gathering gloom, Glamorgan’s batsmen decided to come out with all guns blazing to try to rattle the runs off before bad light stopped play. Selman and Murphy put on an opening partnership of 50 off just 7 overs, but then a flurry of wickets fell and suddenly it was 67 for 4. Eventually, though, Glamorgan recovered their composure and Aneurin Donald finished the game by hitting Worrall for six. Glamorgan won by six wickets.
Anyway, that was a nice start to the County Championship season for Glamorgan – they didn’t play last weekend, which was the first round of matches for most other clubs. Their next game is away to Middlesex (at Lord’s). I would like to have gone to at least one day of that, but unfortunately I’m busy this weekend with other things. Shaun Marsh and David Lloyd both scored centuries in his match, and Marchant de Lange took five wickets in the first innings as well as scoring 50 not out. Hopefully they will take strength from that performance and improve their County Championship position compared to last year.
Now, it’s stopped raining so I can go home. Goodnight all!
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In the Dark 
April 24, 2018 at 11:44 pm
Listened to an hour or two of the game on the internet radio each day during the Mexican mornings. It was a good performance. The end was quite tense as Glamorgan’s batsmen appeared to believe they’d be going off for bad light at any moment, while the commentators reported drizzle in the air. However the umpires were telling off Gloucs’s captain every few minutes for delaying tactics and slow over rate, so they were probably on the side of keeping the players out there for as long as possible.
Middlesex had a few famous bowlers get injured during their last game, including James Harris the ex Glamorgan player who had made a fine start to the season, so this could be a chance for Glamorgan. Apart from the 4 fast/medium bowlers who played for Glamorgan last game, they have 4 more good bowlers on the sidelines, van der Gugten, Wagg, Meschede and Smith, while their batting resources ara a bit thinner.
April 25, 2018 at 6:16 am
I wasn’t sure about Carey as opening bowler with De Lane but he seems to have done well. There was nothing in the pitch at Bristol for the bowlers.
April 25, 2018 at 6:19 am
PS. It was very gloomy in Cardiff in the late afternoon on Monday and there was drizzle in the air as I walked home later. Bristol is not far away so I imagine conditions were similar.
April 25, 2018 at 7:38 am
Carey seems to be a good strike bowler with the new ball though he can be expensive later. De Lange seems to have adapted to English/Welsh conditions now, he didn’t look all that good when I saw him in April last year, but looked much better when I saw him bowl in a few T20 games in July/August.
According to the radio commentators, Selman was urging the Glamorgan balcony to get the next batsman out quickly whenever a wicket fell. And then he was caught on the boundary attempting a 6. The end was a bit frantic but then Lloyd and Donald got 15 off 4 or 5 balls to finish it off.
Bristol is a nice ground, rather prettier than Cardiif now, which I say as a loyal Glamorgan fan. I’ve only been there twice, the last time was a pleasant T20 game in late July last year.
April 30, 2018 at 12:30 pm
I’m glad I didn’t attempt to go to Lord’s for Middlesex versus Gl;amorgan. Play was called off at lunchtime today, the last day, with only one innings having been completed owing to the rain.
April 26, 2018 at 12:31 pm
Good for Glamorgan. Lancs can already forget the championship!
September 27, 2018 at 6:00 pm
[…] managed to reach 270 all out. That was Glamorgan’s second win of the season, the first being their first match of the season, against Gloucestershire. In between these two they’ve endured a wretched season of 10 defeats – including […]