With the Metro Bank One-Day Cup starting next week, all of the first-class counties are set to play showcase fixtures against the National Counties with Glamorgan meeting Herefordshire in a 50-overs friendly at Eastnor CC which is scheduled to start at 1100 at the pretty ground on the outskirts of the town of Ledbury on Sunday, 30 July (writes Andrew Hignell).
It was 127 years ago when Glamorgan last played Herefordshire in a competitive 1st XI game with the match at Cardiff Arms Park taking place on 13 and 14 August 1896. At the time, Glamorgan were a third-class county and relied heavily on locally-born amateurs plus journeymen professionals, many of whom had enjoyed brief careers with the first-class counties in England. Therefore, this game in 1896 saw the Welsh county being led by Bertie Letcher, an insurance broker who had been educated at Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire, with his team winning by six wickets thanks to a fine seam bowling performance by Sam Lowe, who had played for his native Nottinghamshire, claiming 10/82.
In all, the Welsh county met Herefordshire on six occasions in similar games between 1893 and 1896. All were two-day games at either Widemarsh Common in Hereford or at the Arms Park ground in Cardiff, with Glamorgan winning three of these and drawing the others. In subsequent years, following Glamorgan's elevation into the first-class arena in 1921, they have played 2nd XI , Colts and Academy matches against Herefordshire, whilst the latter have also been regular opponents for Wales National Counties in both red-ball and white-ball games.