Glamorgan meet Somerset in the final of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup at Trent Bridge on Sunday, 22 September, with the match scheduled to start at Nottingham at 1100am as the Welsh county look to repeat their success in the competition in 2021 when beating Durham at the Nottingham ground. (writes Andrew Hignell)
This will be Glamorgan’s fifth knockout cup final with their first taking place in 1977 in the Gilette Cup, but Alan Jones’ team lost to Middlesex by five wickets at Lord’s in a match which is remembered by many for a huge straight six by Mike Llewellyn against John Emburey with the ball nearly clearing the pavilion at the historic ground in St. John’s Wood.
Lord’s was also the venue for Glamorgan’s appearance in the Benson and Hedges Cup Final of 2000 when they were beaten by Gloucestershire by seven wickets, despite a brilliant century from Matthew Maynard. 2013 saw another appearance at Lord’s in the Final of the Yorkshire Bank40, but Glamorgan lost to the Notts Outlaws by 87 runs. However, their losing sequence came to an end at Trent Bridge in 2021 as Kiran Carlson led the Welsh county to a 58-run victory over Durham in the Final of the Royal London Cup.
Kiran and Billy Root are the sole survivors from the starting eleven at Nottingham in 2021, along with Andy Gorvin who completed a vital catch as twelfth man to remove the dangerous Cameron Bancroft just as Durham looked like mounting a recovery mission. Chris Cooke is also the only member of the Club’s playing squad for 2024 who appeared in the Lord’s Final in 2013.
As far as recent List A games are concerned against Somerset are concerned, Glamorgan were victorious last summer at Taunton when the two counties met in the One-Day Cup, with Eddie Byrom scoring a century against his former employers. His efforts though were ended by Andy Umeed, the eighth bowler employed by the home side with Byrom being the first of five batters to depart for just 37 runs as their chase appeared to be faltering. Twelve runs were still needed as Gorvin made his way to the middle with the score on 286-8 but, at the other end, Root was calmness personified and after making 50 from 44 balls, the southpaw watchfully guided Glamorgan to their target with Gorvin striking the winning runs with seventeen balls to spare.
This was Glamorgan’s first win in List A cricket against Somerset since 2014. It also came at Taunton and during a rain-affected game by 95 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis Method with Jacques Rudolph leading the way with a fine 111 before half-centuries by Murray Goodwin and Chris Cooke propelled Glamorgan to a decent total. Michael Hogan then delivered a waspish opening spell besides typically making early inroads into the Somerset batting. With the rest of the Glamorgan attack in frugal mode, the home batters opted for the aerial route before falling to some fine catches in the outfield as they tried in vain to get remotely close to the par score.
Somerset beat Leicestershire by 23 runs in their semi-final encounter at Taunton on 18 August and will arrive in Nottingham for the last final in domestic white-ball cricket this summer - as part of the ECB’s “Super September” - having last Saturday lost to Gloucestershire in the Final of the T20 Vitality Blast at Edgbaston.