Glamorgan welcome Hampshire to the SSE SWALEC for their next contest in the Royal London One-Day Cup, with the 50 overs contest scheduled to start on Sunday, August 2nd at 10.30am.
The past few days have seen Glamorgan defeat the Kent Spitfires at their headquarters at the SSE SWALEC in an astonishing game set up by a sublime hundred from Colin Ingram and a crackerjack of an innings from Chris Cooke who was unbeaten on 94 when the winning runs were scored with two balls remaining.
On Friday evening, Ingram took centre-stage once again with a career-best 130 as Glamorgan defeated the Essex Eagles by 146 runs in a match which saw Ingram also become the first-ever batsman to score centuries in successive List A matches for the Welsh county. The fit-again Graham Wagg also played a key hand in the victory with both bat and ball, firstly striding purposefully to the wicket with thirteen overs remaining, and just like a prizefighter, downed in his previous bout, he showed no effects from his head injury in the final Twenty 20 match by striking 62 from 36 balls. His five fours and three massive sixes were then followed by a couple of early wickets as Glamorgan imposed a stranglehold from which the Eagles never escaped.
Their efforts in the course of the past four days have lifted Glamorgan into third place in Group B. With back-to-back games against Hampshire at the SSE SWALEC on Sunday, swiftly followed by an away game at Edgbaston against Warwickshire on Monday, the Welsh county can set their sights on a quarter-final place in the 50-overs competition, with the top four teams qualifying for the last eight.
Hampshire have been victorious on their last two visits to Cardiff, winning the Twenty20 in late May by 21 runs, whilst last September they clinched promotion to Division One of the County Championship with a comprehensive victory over the Welsh county.
The South Coast side also have a decent record in List A one-day games in recent years at Glamorgan's headquarters having been victorious in August 2012 by the emphatic margin of 107 runs when the two sides met in a 40 overs contest in the Clydesdale Bank40 competition.
In fact, Hampshire have won six of their last seven List A games against Glamorgan, with the Welsh county's most recent victory in a List A one-day game over Hampshire at the Cardiff ground took place ten years ago on September 13
th, 2005 when the Welsh county won a floodlit contest by 151 runs thanks to a sober half-century from Mike Powell, followed by 4/28 from David Harrison and 3/19 by Andrew Davies as Hampshire were bundled out for just 69.
After their spirited performances so far this week at their Cardiff headquarters, Jacques Rudolph will be looking to register a third victory inside seven days, and maintain both Glamorgan's unbeaten record in the Royal London One-Day Cup this year, and their quest for a quarter-final place.