Glamorgan travel to Bristol for their next Rothesay County Championship match against Gloucestershire, with the four-day contest scheduled to start at 11.00am on Friday, 11 April. (writes Andrew Hignell)
Both Gloucestershire and Glamorgan succumbed to defeats inside three days against East Midlands teams during the opening round of Championship matches last weekend, with the Welsh county losing at home to Leicestershire by ten wickets and the West Country side being beaten at Derby by nine wickets. Both teams therefore will be looking to bounce back as they meet up again for the first time on Gloucestershire soil since their monumental tie last summer at Cheltenham College when Glamorgan, chasing a world-record target of 592, were dramatically dismissed in their second innings with the scores level.
This will be Glamorgan’s first visit to the Nevil Road ground for a Championship match since 2019 when the Welsh county defeated Gloucestershire by four wickets, with Marnus Labuschagne helping his adopted county successfully chase a target of 188 in 49 overs after Michael Hogan had completed a spell of 4/22 during the home side’s second innings to set up the helter-skelter chase on the final afternoon.
The Welsh county were also victorious at Bristol in 2018 when they opened their Championship campaign with a nail-biting victory being clinched in the closing overs, and amidst gloomy conditions, as Aneurin Donald fortuitously top-edged a hook for six. It ended a series of defeats and draws in red-ball cricket at Gloucestershire’s headquarters with their previous success taking place in April 2008 when they were victorious by the more comfortable margin of 114 runs after David Hemp had completed half-centuries in each innings whilst Jason Gillespie had delivered a feisty spell of seam bowling.
Overall, the two counties have met each other on 173 occasions in first-class cricket with Glamorgan winning on 43 occasions, including 12 matches at the Nevil Road ground. Michael Powell and Len Mercer each have a place in the Welsh county’s record books for the best batting and bowling performance for Glamorgan on Gloucestershire soil, with both performances coming at Cheltenham College with Michael scoring 299 in the contest in 2006 and Len taking 8/36 back in 1947. As far as the Bristol ground is concerned, Glamorgan’s best individual performances have been Alan Jones’ 167 in 1975 and the bowling return of 7/21 by Johnnie Clay in 1946.
In terms of looming milestones. Timm van der Gugten has currently taken 397 wickets for Glamorgan’s 1st XI in first-class, List A and T20, so the Dutch international needs a further three to reach for the Welsh county in all formats. Turning to first-class cricket, Colin Ingram requires 23 runs to reach the landmark of 4,000 runs for Glamorgan, whilst Sam Northeast has currently made 2,856 runs in Championship cricket for the Welsh county and requires 144 to reach the 3,000 mark.