Glamorgan play their last home match of the season in the LV=County Championship as they welcome Derbyshire to Sophia Gardens for a contest which is scheduled to start at 1030 on Tuesday, 20 September. (writes Andrew Hignell)
Glamorgan’s ten-wicket defeat at Lord’s saw Middlesex rise a dozen points above them and into second place in the Division Two table. The defeat also leaves the Welsh county with a scenario which is similar to the one they faced last month in the Royal London Cup with David Lloyd and his team needing to win their two remaining games and hope that results elsewhere go their way if they are to secure promotion into Division One.
Derbyshire are currently in fourth place in the table, seven points behind Glamorgan and also holding hopes of promotion as the domestic season enters its penultimate week. The two teams met earlier in the season at Derby with the game ending in a draw after the Welsh county made a brave attempt at chasing 331 in 55 overs after Brooke Guest, the home keeper, made a century in each innings whilst Marnus Labuschagne came within 15 runs of emulating his achievement with the Australian departing during the helter-skelter chase on the final day.
Having played Glamorgan at Swansea in both 2018 and 2019, this will be Derbyshire’s first visit to Sophia Gardens for a Championship match since 2017. This had been a day-night contest as the game's authorities experimented with floodlights and pink balls in four-day cricket. The Peakites duly won by 39 runs as Glamorgan, chasing a target of 212 were dismissed for 172 as their batters struggles against the wily spin bowling of Sri Lanka’s Jeevan Mendis and teenage debutant Hamidullah Qadri, who took 5/60 on his first appearance in Championship cricket.
Glamorgan’s most recent Championship victory over Derbyshire at Cardiff came in 2014 as they won by 106 runs thanks to half-centuries by Chris Cooke and Graham Wagg, supported by some excellent seam bowling, with Michael Hogan taking 4/38 to set-up a comprehensive victory.