Glamorgan return to red-ball action as they welcome Kent to Sophia Gardens, Cardiff for their next contest in the Rothesay County Championship, with the match scheduled to get underway at 1100 on Tuesday, 22 July. (writes Andrew Hignell)
After the bitter-sweet victory last Friday night against Middlesex in their final T20 group game at Cardiff, only to be pipped at the post for a quarter-final place by the Kent Spitfires, who defeated the Essex Eagles at Canterbury, there is a certain amount of irony that the English county should be Glamorgan’s next opponents in red-ball cricket at Sophia Gardens.
With five matches remaining in this year’s County Championship, the Welsh county are very much in the promotion race into Division One, starting this contest against Kent in third place in the table, two points behind Derbyshire and thirty-three behind leaders Leicestershire who, like their East Midlands neighbours in second place, lost their most recent match in the four-day competition.
In contrast, Kent are languishing at the foot of the table, despite having won two games – the same number as third placed Derbyshire – but the English county have lost four of their nine games this season, including the contest at Canterbury in early May against Glamorgan who were victorious by an innings and 161 runs.
Kent had asked Glamorgan to bat first but spurned several chances, with Asa Tribe benefitting from their fumbles as he batted with great maturity and came within a boundary hit of a maiden hundred. Ben Kellaway then took centre-stage with a superb 181* with his efforts laying the platform for an overwhelming victory in a totally dominant display in all three departments. Glamorgan’s bowlers performed well as a collective unit as Kent subsided to 23-5 inside 14.3 overs before following-on. The flimsy Kent line-up were then blown away once again as, after lunch on the third day, all ten wickets tumbled for just 157 runs in the space of 37.2 overs.
This victory at Canterbury sets up the possibility of Glamorgan recording a home and away double over Kent – something which they have achieved on four occasions. The first came in 1948 at Gravesend and Cardiff Arms Park before being followed in 1957 at Gravesend and Neath as well as in 1992 at Swansea and Canterbury plus, most recently, at Sophia Gardens and Canterbury in 2011.
The Welsh cunty won by ten wickets when Kent last visited Sophia Gardens in 2021 for a contest which, owing to COVID restrictions, was staged behind closed doors. It proved to be a low-scoring affair which was completed inside two days. David Lloyd was the game’s top-scorer with 62 as Glamorgan secured a 59-run lead before Michael Hogan took 5/28 as the Welsh county romped home.
Kent were successful when they visited Sophia Gardens during May 2018, with Darren Stevens’ seam bowling heralding a dramatic collapse after lunch on the opening day as Glamorgan lost ten wickets for 37 runs in the space of 15.2 overs, with the all-rounder claiming 6/12 in the space of 44 balls. Timm van der Gugten responded by completing career-best figures of 7/42, but the Dutch international could not prevent Kent securing what proved to be a match-winning lead of 80 runs with the visitors going on to win the contest by six wickets – one of eight Championship victories for Kent at Sophia Gardens, with the most emphatic being their 316-run success during 2015.