Club History

The present Glamorgan C.C.C. was formed on July 6th 1888 at a meeting of cricket officials in The Angel Hotel, Cardiff. Since 1921 the club have been Wales` sole representative in the English County Championship – a competition they won in 1948, 1969 and 1997. Glamorgan have also beaten all of the major Test playing nations, including Australia who they defeated in successive tours in 1964 and 1968.

1948

In addition, to success at first-class level, Glamorgan have won the one-day National League in 1993 and 2002, as well as reaching the Lord`s final of the Gillette Cup in 1977 and the Benson and Hedges competition in 2000.

Many consider the years since the early 1990`s as being one of the most successful periods in Glamorgan`s history – a far cry indeed from the early days of the club in the 1890`s when they had a modest existence as a Minor County, initially playing friendlies against neighbouring English counties. Their team was largely composed of amateurs, and if finances permitted, a few professionals turned out for the club – many though were long in the tooth, and as a consequence, these early years saw little sustained success.

Things looked up in 1900 when under the captaincy of Joseph Brain, Glamorgan were joint winners of the Minor County Championship. They finished up as runners-up again in 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1913, and in the years leading up to the Great War, a campaign began for Glamorgan`s promotion to the first-class ranks. This reached its fruition in the Autumn of 1920 when Neath-based solicitor Tom Whittington, the club`s secretary, secured the promise of enough fixtures with first-class opponents for Glamorgan to formally approach the M.C.C. for inclusion in the County Championship.

1997

Their application was approved and in May 1921 Glamorgan played their inaugural first-class fixture, against Sussex at Cardiff Arms Park. Glamorgan had a fairytale start, winning by 23 runs, but the euphoria soon turned to despair as the club won only one more game and ended up the summer at the bottom of the county table.

A similar pattern was repeated throughout the club`s first decade, with only a few victories, such as the defeat of the 1923 West Indians, interspersing a sequence of heavy losses. The lack of success on the playing field meant that the club`s finances were rarely healthy enough for the club to hire decent professionals, and as in their earlier years, there was a reliance on amateur talent.

But two of the home-grown amateurs, spinner Johnnie Clay and batsman Maurice Turnbull, had a vast web of business contacts, and through their influence they allowed Glamorgan to overcome some rocky years in the early 1930`s. Without their efforts, the club might have folded, but Turnbull, as the club`s hard-working captain, and Clay his able lieutenant in the role of secretary, raised enough cash for the club to continue.

As well as improving the club`s finances, they also ensured that Glamorgan had a stronger and more tangible Welsh identity, and by the time Glamorgan regrouped after the Second War, there was a greater number of talented Welsh professionals on the club`s books. Sadly, Turnbull lost his life during the War, but Clay was still, and he helped the new captain Wilf Wooller rebuild the club. Their dreams reached fruition in August 1948 when Glamorgan defeated Hampshire at Bournemouth to win the County Championship.

For the next three decades Wooller was present, either as captain or secretary, to further oversee affairs, and the emergence of fine Welsh-born cricketers including batsman Alan Jones and bowler Don Shepherd. Indeed, it was Wooller who also helped groom Tony Lewis, the man who led Glamorgan to their second County title in 1969.

2003

This distinguished lineage of influential personalities continued in the late 1980`s when Lewis became the club`s Chairman, and together with Jones and Shepherd, now in roles as the county`s coaches, he helped to set in motion another wonderful period of success in the Welsh county`s history – a period that saw them win the National League under Hugh Morris in 1993, the County Championship under Matthew Maynard in 1997, and the National League title, once again in 2002 when Steve James was the club`s captain.

Like their 1993 success, Glamorgan won the 2002 National League by defeating Kent at Canterbury. Owing to an injury to Steve James, Robert Croft was at the helm for this nerve-jangling victory. He took over the captaincy in 2003 when Steve James retired, and in 2004 Glamorgan won the one-day league again, in addition to reaching the finals day of the Twenty20 competition at Edgbaston.