Glamorgan welcome Durham to Sophia Gardens for their next match in the LV=Insurance County Championship with the four-day game scheduled to start at 11am on Thursday, 20 April. (writes Andrew Hignell)
After their eleven-day break, the Welsh county will be eager to get back into action following their draw with Gloucestershire a fortnight ago. For their part, Durham will be looking to continue their winning ways after they bounced back from a two-wicket defeat against Sussex in the opening batch of Championship games at Hove to defeat Worcestershire on Sunday afternoon at Chester-le-Street by 121 runs.
Glamorgan drew with Durham last summer at the Cardiff ground with Alex Lees carrying his bat for an unbeaten 182, whilst Colin Ingram made 87 and Chris Cooke an unbeaten 85. This had been Durham’s first Championship visit to Sophia Gardens since August 2018 when they completed an innings victory inside three days after a return of 5-28 by Chris Rushworth – now with Warwickshire - saw Glamorgan dismissed in their second innings for 111.
Durham beat Glamorgan by 58 runs last summer at Chester-le-Street, with the Welsh county’s most recent victory in a four-day contest between the two teams coming at Swansea in 2017 after an enterprising declaration by Paul Collingwood set Glamorgan a target of 266 from 51 overs on the final afternoon. Despite the loss of early wickets, a watchful century by Nick Selman saw Glamorgan to a three-wicket victory.
In all, Durham have previously played eight Championship games at Glamorgan’s headquarters in Cardiff with the first, in May 1992, seeing Durham win by an innings and 104 runs thanks to hundred by Paul Parker and Wayne Larkins, Tony Cottey struck a defiant second innings century, but an eight-wicket haul by visiting seamer Simon Brown saw his side to victory.
This win in 1992, plus their success by an innings and 30 runs in 2018, have been the only occasions when Durham have been victorious in a first-class match at the Cardiff ground. Between 1997 and 2003 Glamorgan defeated Durham in four successive Championship encounters at Sophia Gardens, with their winning run starting in 1997 with a victory by an innings and 2 runs. This was followed in 1999 by a seven- wicket win, then in 2002 by a win by five wickets before another victory by eight wickets in 2003.