Glamorgan’s north Walian all-rounder David Lloyd is hoping for a return to better times up north when his side welcome Warwickshire for the annual County Championship fixture at the Colwyn Bay ground at Rhos-on-Sea, starting on August 29.
The fixture will be something of a homecoming for Lloyd, who will have chance to catch up with old friends on his return to north Wales.
“It’ll be nice to get back up north and play at home, and also see a few familiar faces,” said Lloyd. “But first, we have to sort out our performances and there’s no better place to do it. Hopefully we’ll get some runs on the board and get our confidence back and see how it goes from there.”
Last season, the Rhos-on-Sea ground produced a thriller between Glamorgan and Sussex, which the Welshmen narrowly lost by one wicket with a young team containing eight Glamorgan Pathway players.
“It’s normally a good deck and the boys did well last time, even though they lost by one wicket,” added Lloyd. “It was a young team up there. They showed signs of good form and hopefully we can go up there and forget what’s happened the last few weeks, and try and enjoy our cricket.”
Whilst Glamorgan’s current crop are struggling for runs, Rhos-on-Sea produced a historic innings for Steve James in 2000 when, having been invited to bat, the opener struck an unbeaten 309, having built a first-wicket partnership of 374 with Matthew Elliott as Glamorgan amassed 718 for three against Sussex. James remains the only triple centurion in the county’s history.
This time around, Glamorgan face a Warwickshire side brimming with confidence as they push for promotion to Division One. In their last match, they defeated Gloucestershire at Edgbaston by an innings and 47 runs. The Bears were victorious by four wickets when Glamorgan travelled to Edgbaston earlier in the season, after Ian Bell struck a century in each innings.
But Glamorgan’s performance in that match is a cause for optimism this time around, according to Lloyd.
“We showed at their place that we can compete against a good side. Obviously we’ll be looking to do better than last time after losing. But we know how good they are and they’re pushing to get promoted. We’ll try and do anything and everything to spoil their promotion push."
Written by Edward Bevan for the ECB's Reporters Newtwork