Glamorgan head to Cheltenham for Gloucestershire Clash

18 Jul 2023 | Cricket

Head Coach Matt Maynard has named a 13-player squad for Glamorgan's LV= County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

Colin Ingram returns to the Championship squad as Michael Neser links back up with the Australia squad at Old Trafford this week. Left Arm Spinner Prem Sisodiya also comes back into the squad after making his first County Championship appearance in four years against Durham last month.

The Welsh county took 11 points from their rain-affected match against Leicestershire last time out. A first-day washout was followed by just 17 overs bowled on the second day in Cardiff.

Neser's 176* along with his fellow Queenslander Mitchell Swepson's career-best 69 helped Glamorgan recover from 93/7 to 403/9d on the third day to pick up four of the five possible batting bonus points.

On a placid pitch, Leicestershire collected all five of their own batting points, with Glamorgan claiming two bowling points after taking six wickets.

The result meant that Glamorgan remained undefeated with the red ball this season, despite having only won one of their nine matches. The Welsh county sit fourth in the Division 2 table, 13 points behind the promotion spots.

Their hosts this week, Gloucestershire are seventh, with five draws, three defeats and one abandonment so far this year.

The Welsh county head to Cheltenham as part of Gloucestershire's Cheltenham Festival which begins with the Championship clash. The festival sees 12 days of cricket over a 15-day period and tickets can be bought here

View from the Camp - David Lloyd

"Hopefully we'll get a bit more luck with the weather going forward with these next couple of games.

"There's been some close games the last few weeks, obviously like the Sussex game. So the signs are there, we just need to complete it really.

"The lads obviously want to win games and we'll do our best to win this next couple before the one-day comp".

Head-to-Head - Gloucestershire vs Glamorgan

This will be Glamorgan’s first visit for a Championship match to Cheltenham since 2017 when they lost inside two days by ten wickets after 25 wickets had tumbled in bowler-friendly conditions on the opening day. On the second day, Liam Norwell delivered a probing spell at the College Lawn End to return the exemplary figures of 6/38. His efforts meant Gloucestershire were left with a modest target of 135 and with less assistance from the surface for the bowlers, Cameron Bancroft and Chris Dent posted trouble-free fifties as they saw Gloucestershire to an emphatic victory.

In contrast, the Welsh county had been victorious thirteen years ago at Cheltenham, with Glamorgan winning by 176 runs during July 2010 as Robert Croft dramatically ended the contest with a superb hat-trick removing Vikram Banerjee l.b.w., before bowling Gemaal Hussain and then having another l.b.w. appeal upheld against Steve Kirby.

In fact, Glamorgan have a decent record at the College ground, having had the better of a drawn game at the 1991 Cheltenham Festival, winning by two wickets in 2002, and then in 2006, recording a ten-wicket victory after Michael Powell had scored a magnificent 299. For a while, it looked as if the Glamorgan batsman might break both Steve James’ Club record of 309*, besides surpassing the 318* made by the legendary WG Grace at Cheltenham in 1876. But on 299 he was caught behind from the spin bowling of Ian Fisher. However, another outstanding bowling performance by Robert Croft, who claimed a thirteen-wicket match haul saw Gloucestershire dismissed twice before some lusty blows from Brendan McCullum saw the Welsh county home on the final afternoon, and just before the rains descended on the pretty Cotswold town.

How to Follow

Thanks to our friends at Gloucestershire, a live stream will be in operation and you will be able to watch on the Glamorgan website via the match centre with commentary from BBC's Nick Webb and colleagues.

The match will also be covered on our social media channels, with updates, highlights, and reports throughout the game.

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