Worcestershire are Glamorgan’s next opponents in the LV=Insurance County Championship with the West Midlands side meeting the Welsh county at Sophia Gardens with the four-day contest at Cardiff scheduled to start at 11.00am on Thursday, 11 May (writes Andrew Hignell).
Glamorgan bossed their game last weekend against Yorkshire at Leeds and came within one wicket of recording their first victory at the Headingley ground since 1999 as a pulsating game of cricket ended all square with Yorkshire’s last pair at the wicket. Worcestershire were also engaged in a drawn game against Sussex at New Road and are in fourth place in the Division Two table, five points ahead of Glamorgan who remain in fifth place after their dramatic draw against the Tykes.
Whilst Glamorgan are still waiting to record their first victory of the 2023 season, Worcestershire have one success under their belt, having defeated Derbyshire by eight wickets in the opening round of matches a month ago. Nevertheless, Glamorgan can boast in Timm van der Gugten the leading bowler in Division Two cricket this summer with the Dutchman having already claimed 21 wickets at just 21 runs apiece.
The two sides drew their fixture at Cardiff last summer, but Worcestershire held the upper hand after 172 by Gareth Roderick allowed the visitors to enforce the follow-on before rain washed out play on the final afternoon. Glamorgan’s most recent victory in Championship cricket against Worcestershire at Cardiff came in 2013 when the Welsh county won by ten wickets in a contest which saw Mike Reed, claim 5/27 in the visitors first innings before Jim Allenby struck 78 before taking 4/27 to put Glamorgan into the ascendancy.
The 2019 visit of Worcestershire to Cardiff saw Marnus Labuschagne score a century in each innings whilst Brett D’Oliveira, who will be leading Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens, scored a hundred as the game ended in a draw after Glamorgan had set the visitors a target of 326 in 66 overs.