Glamorgan travel to Kent for their next match in the LV=Insurance County Championship, with their four-day game scheduled to start at 1100am at Canterbury on Thursday, 20 May. (writes Andrew Hignell)
After their rain-ravaged draws against the White and Red Roses, Glamorgan will be hoping that the weather is set fair as they visit the Garden of England in search of a rare home and away double over Kent. The Welsh county have only achieved the feat on four previous occasions with the most recent being in 2011 when they won at Sophia Gardens by an innings and 8 runs before being victorious at Canterbury by eight wickets with Stewart Walters scoring 147 in the day-night contest which also saw a trial being undertaken by the ECB with pink and orange balls.
Glamorgan’s other seasonal ‘doubles’ over Kent – in 1948, 1957 and 1992 - had involved victories at the Arms Park, Neath, Swansea and Gravesend so another victory by the Welsh club over the English county, following their two-day demolition of Kent earlier in the month by ten wickets at Sophia Gardens, will make it only the second Cardiff-Canterbury combination in the history of Championship games between the two teams.
Over the years, Glamorgan have fared well in white-ball cricket at the St. Lawrence ground with their title-winning victories over Kent in 1993 and 2002 being the stuff of a modern-day Canterbury tale. As far as red-ball matches are concerned, all five of their Championship victories at Canterbury have come in recent times – 1980, 1992, 1997, 2011 and 2017.
Their latest win saw Michael Hogan record a ten-wicket match haul to guide Glamorgan to a stirring five-wicket victory, and all after Kent had secured a first innings lead of 73 following 152 by Joe Denly. Batting for a second time, Kent’s batsmen had few answers to the Australian’s bowling with Michael claiming 6/43 as the home side were dismissed for 115 before Nick Selman led the run chase with an assertive 70.
Michael goes into this match with his career tally of first-class wickets for Glamorgan standing at 398 and he is set to reach the landmark of 400 at a ground at which he has already excelled in previous visits. His match haul of 10/87 remain as Glamorgan’s best-ever bowling figures at the St. Lawrence ground, whilst David Hemp’s unbeaten 171 at Canterbury in 2005 is the highest score at the ground for the Welsh county. Chris Cooke also made 171 at the ground in 2014 – although he was dismissed – whilst Matthew Maynard made 170 in the contest at Kent’s headquarters in 1999.
As far as other batting records set at Canterbury, Glamorgan recorded their best-ever sixth wicket stand against Kent in the contest at the ground in 2016 as David Lloyd and Graham Wagg added 215 in a noble rear-guard action, with each batsman making hundreds. Their sturdy efforts however could not save Glamorgan from defeat as for the second time in the match, Kent’s openers Daniel Bell-Drummond and Tom Latham shared a century opening stand as they eased to an emphatic victory by ten wickets.
The game at Canterbury in 2014 saw Chris Cooke and Dean Cosker add a record 118 for the eighth wicket, whilst in 2005 a quixotic tenth wicket stand between David Hemp and Huw Waters added 118. The latter’s ramrod-straight defensive strokes almost drove Kent’s captain David Fulton to distraction as he bowled a series of gentle lobs in an effort to break the tailender’s concentration. Huw’s three and a quarter hour vigil was eventually ended by Simon Cook – now on Kent’s coaching staff – but his doughty efforts could not prevent Glamorgan from following-on and eventually losing the match by an innings – one of eleven defeats in Glamorgan’s 24 Championship matches at Canterbury.