Glamorgan will go back to the future this Friday, with their first fixture at Sophia Gardens in almost 11 years.
Their first home match of the 2018 Specsavers County Championship against Kent will see the return of the traditional name of the ground on Cathedral Road, one of the most attractive and popular in British cricket.
It was renamed the SWALEC Stadium ahead of the 2008 season and has more recently been known as the SSE SWALEC.
And it is certainly a very different ground to the one which hosted a rain-ruined draw against Gloucestershire in its last game as Sophia Gardens, in the last game of the 2007 season.
But the Glamorgan players are relishing the prospect of returning to Cardiff, especially after making such an encouraging start to the season.
They followed an excellent opening win against Gloucestershire in Bristol with another good performance by the seam bowlers, led by captain Michael Hogan, against Middlesex at Lord’s last weekend – although the weather ensured that game was always going to be a draw.
It leaves the county handily-placed in third in the early-season table, only two points behind the leaders Warwickshire – and means a win against Kent could really establish them as promotion contenders.
Chris Cooke, who has been appointed vice captain to Hogan, believes the team have kicked on from an away win against Kent in the last match of the 2017 season – their first in Canterbury since 1997.
“We included seven young players who had come through the Academy System in that game, and only a few senior players,” recalled the 31-year-old, who was born and raised in South Africa but is now settled in Wales at the start of his sixth season with the club.
“After a first innings deficit of 73, we bowled them out cheaply and chased 192 to win with a day to spare.
“The young players played for each other in Canterbury, gained confidence, and that win was one of the best I have been involved with since joining the club.”
Kent have had a rollercoaster start to the season, as they were skittled twice by Gloucestershire in their first home game but then demolished Durham in the space of five sessions the following week in Chester-le-Street – with New Zealand seamer Matt Henry doing the bulk of the damage.
But Cooke believes Glamorgan are in good shape to face Joe Denly’s team, who have a high-profile new coaching recruit this season in the great South African bowler Allan Donald, as assistant to Matthew Walker.
“Our pre-season trip to Dubai was a huge success, and everyone got something out of it,” he explained. “We then hit the ground running on our return – we haven’t scored over 500 too many times in our opening game of the season, as we did at Bristol. At Lord’s, we didn’t play as well as we could, but to pick up three bowling points was a bonus, and it was a pity the game was ruined by the weather.
“I was pleasantly surprised when Michael Hogan asked me to be the vice captain, and considered it a great honour,” Cooke continued.
“I have more responsibility but regard the job as an extension of what I was doing before. As a wicketkeeper, you are always having a word with the bowlers or the captain - that is the nature of the wicketkeeper’s role, and I am enjoying every minute.”
Article written by Edward Bevan for the ECB Independent Reporter Network.