Glamorgan's remarkable ten-wicket victory over Surrey yesterday at The Kia Oval was the first time since 1998 that the Welsh county had won their opening County Championship match - on that occasion, they defeated Gloucestershire at Bristol by 141 runs.
Their win yesterday (on April 9th) was also Glamorgan's earliest-ever victory in the County Championship, surpassing the win on April 20th, 1998 at Bristol - on the third day of the match - as Gloucestershire were dismissed for a meagre 89 with Darren Thomas and Gary Butcher each taking four wickets.
The dramatic victory against Surrey was also the first time that Glamorgan had won their opening contest in the Championship by the comprehensive margin of ten wickets. Other sizeable victories in the first Championship game of the season came in 1931 when Glamorgan overwhelmed Warwickshire at Edgbaston by 161 runs, at Swansea in 1937 when Kent were defeated by an innings and 152 runs, and again in 1993 when Sussex subsided to a 274-run defeat at Sophia Gardens.
There have been six summers - 1948, 1953, 1960, 1985, 1993 and 1995 - when the Welsh county have won their first two games in the County Championship whilst their best start to a season remains in the Championship-winning summer of 1948 when Wilf Wooller's team won three out of their first four games, beating Essex at the Arms Park and Worcestershire at New Road, before drawing with Lancashire at Old Trafford and then defeating Somerset at Swansea.
For the record, Surrey's meagre total of 81 was their lowest in first-class cricket since they made 76 against Kent in 1992.