Glamorgan’s eagerly-anticipated NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final against Yorkshire at The SSE SWALEC on Thursday, August 11th at 7pm will not be the first time that the White Rose county have travelled to Cardiff for a match in the last eight of a major one-day competition against the Welsh county.
On July 29th, 1997 Glamorgan met Yorkshire at Sophia Gardens in the quarter-final of the Nat West Trophy, with the Welsh county – who at the time were also riding high in the County Championship – having secured a place in the last eight of the 60 overs competition nail-biting two-wicket victory over Hampshire at Southampton with Pakistani fast bowler Waqar Younis hitting the winning runs with two balls to spare.
Glamorgan`s supporters believed that the match with Yorkshire could surely not be as exciting as the contest with Hampshire, but how wrong they were as the match at Cardiff proved to be another cliff-hanger. Yorkshire opted to bat first and were kept in check by the home bowlers for whom Dean Cosker, then a left-arm spinner in just his second season of county cricket taking 3/26, with Darren Lehmann – now the Australian Head Coach – making a defiant 105 as the Tykes ended on 236/8 at the end of their 60 overs.
Despite half-centuries from Robert Croft and Matthew Maynard, Glamorgan suffered a mid-innings wobble, as they lost seven wickets for 69 runs, with Darren Gough claiming 4/36 to give his side a chance of turning the tables on the Welsh county. Craig White and Michael Vaughan also claimed wickets as Glamorgan slipped to 209/9 with Waqar Younis being joined by the teenage Cosker.
Without addition, Waqar had a moment of good fortune as he survived a sharp chance to Vaughan, before farming the strike against Gough and White to take Glamorgan to a thrilling and remarkable one wicket win as Chris Silverwood bowled a wide at the start of the final over. Indeed, Yorkshire had been very profligate that day with extras, with Glamorgan’s total being bloated by 14 no balls and 11 wides.
The victory over Yorkshire secured a semi-final against Essex at Chelmsford. This was an equally dramatic contest which, after bad light on the first day, went into the reserve day with last man Peter Such off-driving Darren Thomas for four to break Welsh hearts and see Essex to a remarkable one-wicket victory.