Glamorgan County Cricket Club


Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Glamorgan. Founded in 1888, Glamorgan held minor status at first and was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship before the First World War. In 1921, the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to first-class status, subsequently playing in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England and Wales.
Glamorgan is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. They have won the English County Championship competition in 1948, 1969 and 1997. Glamorgan have also beaten international teams from all of the Test playing nations, including Australia whom they defeated in successive tours in 1964 and 1968. The club's limited overs team is called simply Glamorgan. Kit colours are blue and yellow for limited overs matches.
The club is based in Cardiff and plays most of its home games at Sophia Gardens, which is located on the bank of the River Taff. Matches have also occasionally been played at Swansea, Colwyn Bay and Cresselly.

Honours

First XI honours

Cricket probably reached Wales and Glamorgan by the end of the 17th century. The earliest known reference to cricket in Glamorgan is a match at Swansea in 1780.

Origin of club

The formation of Glamorgan CCC took place on 6 July 1888 at a meeting in the Angel Hotel, Cardiff.
The club competed in the Minor Counties Championship for many years and then applied for first-class status after the First World War.
Glamorgan CCC played its initial first-class match versus Sussex CCC at Cardiff Arms Park on 18–20 May 1921 and thus increased the County Championship to 17 teams. Captained by N.V.H. Riches, Glamorgan won this first match by 23 runs. Only one more victory was achieved that summer; Glamorgan lost 14 games and finished with the wooden spoon.

Club history

Glamorgan won the county championship in 1948 under the captaincy of Wilf Wooller, whose advocacy of high fielding standards was the key to beating stronger batting and bowling teams.
Glamorgan was the unintentional venue for a piece of cricket history on 31 August 1968 when, during Glamorgan v Notts at Swansea, Gary Sobers hit all six balls in an over from Malcolm Nash for six.
Glamorgan won the championship again under Tony Lewis in 1969 and Matthew Maynard in 1997. Lewis is the only Glamorgan player to captain England in Tests, when he became the first Glamorgan cricketer to lead an England tour abroad to play series against India and Pakistan in 1972-73. Maynard, who retired at the end of the 2005 season, was one of the most successful batsmen in first class cricket over the previous 20 years. The 2005 captain, off spinner Robert Croft, proved effective on England tours, and was a useful pinch hitter in List A one-day games.
The club had plans in April 2006 to extend its grounds in the Grade 2 Listed Heritage Park that is Sophia Gardens, with a 17,500 seat super-stadium.
Sophia Gardens became a Test cricket venue in 2009 when the First Test in the Ashes series against Australia was held there.

Players

Current squad

Most first-class runs for Glamorgan

Qualification – 16,000 runs
PlayerRuns
Alan Jones34,056
Emrys Davies26,102
Matthew Maynard22,764
Gilbert Parkhouse22,619
Hugh Morris18,520
Arnold Dyson17,921
Bernard Hedges17,733
Allan Watkins17,419
Peter Walker16,510

Most first-class wickets for Glamorgan

Qualification – 800 wickets
PlayerWickets
Don Shepherd2,174
Jack Mercer1,460
Johnnie Clay1,292
Robert Croft1,001
Malcolm Nash991
Frank Ryan913
Wilf Wooller887
Emrys Davies885
Steve Watkin861

Team totals
Batting
Best partnership for each wicket
Bowling