Glamorgan play host to Warwickshire in their last first-class match of the truncated season as the two sides meet in the Bob Willis Trophy at Sophia Gardens, with the four-day contest scheduled to start at the Cardiff ground on Sunday, 6 September at 10.30am (writes Andrew Hignell).
Both teams have yet to record a victory in the newly-instigated competition, with Warwickshire having lost to Somerset by 76 runs during mid-August, besides drawing their other three contests. For Glamorgan , they also lost to the West Country side in the opening round of games in the first week of August and will be looking to bounce back after losing to Northamptonshire a fortnight ago at Wantage Road by six wickets despite the batting fireworks of Marchant de Lange and an outstanding hundred on first-class debut by Callum Taylor.
This will be Warwickshire’s first visit to the Welsh capital for a four-day game since June 2008, when the West Midlands side were the victors by five wickets with opening batsman Ian Westwood scoring 176 before James Anyon claimed a six-wicket haul as Glamorgan were forced to follow-on. Second time around, it was Chris Woakes who hit the bowling headlines as the all-rounder claimed five wickets before the visiting batsmen eased their side to victory.
The two teams did meet in the County Championship during 2018, with the home game being staged at Colwyn Bay. The match in North Wales duly saw Warwickshire record an innings victory thanks to an outstanding batting performance by Ian Bell who struck a sublime 204 as Warwickshire amassed 503. Jeetan Patel also claimed a ten-wicket match haul with Warwickshire’s victory march on the third evening only being briefly delayed by a breezy tenth wicket stand between Ruaidhri Smith and Michael Hogan, who celebrated the 50th anniversary of Garry Sobers’ six-hitting feat at Swansea with some mighty blows of their own as they added 63 for the last wicket
Glamorgan’s most recent victory on Welsh soil against Warwickshire in a first-class match came at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff during a low-scoring encounter in August 1993. Adrian Dale claimed career-best figures of 6-18 as Warwickshire were bundled out for a paltry 125 in their first innings with the all-rounder’s efforts putting Glamorgan into the ascendancy, before a watchful half-century by captain Hugh Morris saw the Welsh county to a two-wicket victory with a day to spare.