After their thrilling victory in the Royal London Cup final at Trent Bridge, Glamorgan’s cricketers return to red-ball action as they welcome Essex to Sophia Gardens for their next match in the LV=Insurance County Championship with the game at Sophia Gardens scheduled to get underway at 11am on Monday, 30th August. (writes Andrew Hignell)
This will be the first time for five years that the two teams have met each other in the Championship with the Welsh county winning their most recent encounter in September 2016 at Chelmsford by 11 runs. Needing to score 264 in a minimum of 91 overs, Essex had seemed to be cruising at 92-0 in the over before lunch, but Timm van der Gugten removed Nick Browne, before four other wickets tumbled in quick succession after the interval as Glamorgan surged back into the game. Michael Hogan ended with a return of 5/45 after a high-quality spell in sweltering temperatures at the Hayes Close End before the Essex tail-enders ground out late runs before Glamorgan took the new ball and van der Gugten returned to end their resistance with nineteen balls remaining.
There had been plenty of drama as well on the opening morning as the match began ninety minutes late after a fatal accident on the A12 caused major traffic delays in the vicinity of Chelmsford with Glamorgan’s kit van, plus players and spectators all caught up in the congestion. After play had begun at noon, Glamorgan had nosedived to 34-5 before order was restored by a composed stand of 133 in 47 overs for the eighth wicket between eighteen year-old Kiran Carlson and Owen Morgan, with the former going on to become Glamorgan’s youngest-ever centurion as he completed his maiden hundred shortly before bad light hastened an early finish.
Earlier that season the two teams had drawn their match at Cardiff with Will Bragg making an unbeaten 161 whilst van der Gugten also claimed seven wickets in the game. Essex had also met Glamorgan twice during 2015 with the Welsh county winning at Cardiff by 89 runs as they registered their first Championship win over Essex at their headquarters since 1997.Their victory was set up by a composed 82 by Jacques Rudolph, plus 79 from Mark Wallace and an incisive return of 5/54 by Graham Wagg before the lacklustre Essex side failed in their attempt to score 364 in a minimum of 117 overs, with Glamorgan wrapping up victory shortly after lunch on the final day.
Essex had been victorious by five wickets at Cardiff during May 2013 in a match which saw both Ravi Bopara and Mark Wallace post fluent hundreds. But an incisive new ball spell by David Masters gave the visitors the upper hand, and they were left with a target of 275 in 70 overs on the final day. A handsome opening stand of 143 between Tom Westley and Jaik Mickleburgh saw them on their way as Essex eased to victory with seven balls to spare.
Before this, the preceding five games between the two sides at Cardiff had all ended in draws, with the contest in 2009 also seeing the visitor’s last pair survive the closing overs amidst much tension and drama as the Glamorgan attack, led by the wily Dean Cosker, pressed for victory.