Glamorgan’s Second Eleven will play at a range of home grounds this coming summer with Llandaff Cathedral School, Sudbrook, Pontypridd and Monmouth School joining the list of regular venues including Newport, Neath and St. Fagans.
Llandaff Cathedral School will stage its first-ever Glamorgan Second Eleven game as the Welsh county meet Gloucestershire in back-to-back Twenty20 fixtures on July 15th at Bishop’s Field, the School’s ground adjacent to Western Avenue (M48) where cricketing activity activity has taken place since 1906. The Cathedral School currently have Simon Jones as their cricket professional, whilst their alumni include Roger Davis, a member of Glamorgan’s Championship-winning team fifty years ago, as well as current staff member Ruaidhri Smith.
Sudbrook CC, who play at Mill Lane in Caldicot, also play host to their first-ever Glamorgan game as the MCC Young Cricketers visit on April 24th for a Second Eleven Trophy contest. In recent years, the Deepweir ground (seen above) has also hosted some of Cardiff MCCU’s home games, as well as the Wales Women’s team.
Second Eleven cricket also returns to Monmouth School during 2019, with a one-day match against Essex 2nd XI on June 10th, plus a three-day friendly with Worcstershire 2nd XI starting on August 27th. The School’s ground hosted three Second Eleven Championship matches between 1972 and 1974, plus a one-day contest against Hampshire 2nd XI during July 1996, whilst during 1929 and 1930 it was also the venue for some of Monmouthshire’s Minor County contests.
Pontypridd also returns to Glamorgan’s fixture calendar during 2019. The ground in Ynysangharad Park lies in the heart of the town and was created during 1923 as the town’s memorial to the men and women from the valley community who lost their lives during the Great War. It hosted 43 first-class matches between 1926 and 1996, in addition to nine of Glamorgan’s List A games between September 1970 and July 1999. The latter contest saw Jacques Kallis hit an unbeaten 155 against Surrey, and the South London side will be the visitors again on May 14th for a Second Eleven Trophy match.
The Second Eleven season ends with an away match at Beckenham, starting on September 9th, against a combined Kent and Northamptonshire side. This will be the first time for 51 years that Glamorgan have met a combined counties team, with the last occasion being August 1968 when they met a Somerset and Gloucestershire side at Taunton. They had also played the combined south-western side earlier in the summer at Abergavenny, as well as in 1967 at both Bridgend and Taunton.