After their draw with table-topping Lancashire, Glamorgan meet Yorkshire - currently in second place in the group - in their next contest in the LV=Insurance County Championship with the match at Sophia Gardens scheduled to get underway behind closed doors at 1100am on Thursday, 13 May. (writes Andrew Hignell)
One of the features of the revised format to the County Championship is that several counties, who have not met for a number of years, play each other both at home and away this summer. This is the case with Glamorgan and Yorkshire who met for the first time since 2012 at the start of April, with the White Rose county now making their first visit to the Cardiff ground for a Championship match since August 1998.
In that game twenty three years ago, Yorkshire won by 114 runs after an outstanding all-round contribution by Gavin Hamilton, with the Scottish-born all-rounder posting scores of 79 and 70, besides returning match-figures of 10/112. In all, there have been fourteen Championship fixtures between the two sides at Glamorgan’s headquarters following their move from the Arms Park at the end of the 1966 season, with Yorkshire winning by ten wickets on their first visit to Sophia Gardens during July 1968 after Phil Sharpe, their opening batsman, had made 114 whilst spinner Geoff Cope bagged a twelve-wicket haul.
Glamorgan have beaten Yorkshire on three occasions at Sophia Gardens with their most recent victory coming in May 1987 when they were victorious in a rain-affected contest which saw Rodney Ontong, their all-rounder claim 6/91 with his off-spin to bowl the Welsh county to a win by 73 runs. Six years before Ontong had been to the fore again, this time with his seam bowling, as Glamorgan won the contest at the Cardiff ground by the more emphatic margin of ten wickets. The South African-born cricketer claimed three wickets after John Hopkins had posted an imperious 116. Yorkshire duly followed-on before Ezra Moseley took 6/63 to leave Glamorgan needing just 44 to win.
The Welsh county also won in May 1973 which, like the three-day contest in 1987, was badly affected by rain. After a complete washout on the opening day and the loss of playing time the next day, the final day of the contest saw 20 wickets tumble as firstly Phil Carrick took 5/24 before Roger Davis bowled Glamorgan to victory with the off-spinner taking 5/12 as his team won by 65 runs.
The run-laden contest at Sophia Gardens in 1996 saw a number of batting records being created with Glamorgan amassing 482-7 dec – their best-ever total on Welsh soil against the Tykes - with Hugh Morris making an unbeaten 202. In response, Yorkshire made 536-8 dec – also their highest-ever total in Wales – with Martyn Moxon, now the Club’s Director of Cricket, scoring 213. These both remain the best-ever individual scores made by Glamorgan and Yorkshire batsmen in contests between the two teams
Having been rested for the visit to Emirates Old Trafford last week, Michael Hogan is set to reach the personal landmark of 400 first-class wickets for the Welsh county who go into the match in fourth place in the group table. Michael’s tally currently stands at 396 wickets from 19, 982 balls for the Welsh county, with the evergreen bowler, who celebrates his 40th birthday at the end of the month, having taken four wickets in the draw against Yorkshire at Headingley in early April – a game which saw Glamorgan hold the upper hand before snow on the third day scuppered their victory charge.