Looking ahead to 2017 #3: 50th anniversary of county cricket at Sophia Gardens

2017 will see the 50th anniversary of county cricket at Glamorgan’s headquarters at Sophia Gardens, now known as The SSE SWALEC.

The creation of the National Stadium (now the Principality Stadium) during the mid 1960s saw county cricket move from the Arms Park to Sophia Gardens, with the final match taking place at the Arms Park during 1966 and the inaugural first-class game at Sophia Gardens starting on May 24^th, 1967 as Glamorgan met the Indian tourists.

On June 8^th 1968 Glamorgan recorded their first-ever Champuionship victory at their new Cardiff base as they defeated Hampshire by an innings and 16 runs, before the following year defeating Worcestershire in early September to lift the Championship title for the second time in the Club’s history.

There have been many notable matches and events aplenty during the course of the past fifty years at the Sophia Gardens ground with a Royal visit to the match between Glamorgan and Gloucestershire in 1987 to launch the Club’s Centenary Year.

1993 saw Viv Richards and Adrian Dale share in a record breaking stand of 425 in the Championship match against Middlesex, whilst four years later Hugh Morris struck an unbeaten 233 against Warwickshire at the start of a season which saw the Welsh county, once again, lift the county title.

Following the acquisition of the ground lease by Glamorgan CCC during the mid 1990s, Sophia Gardens has been transformed into a world-class stadium, with the first international contest taking place at the Cardiff ground in 1999 as New Zealand defeated Australia during the ICC World Cup.

July 2009 saw the redeveloped ground proudly stage the opening Test of the Ashes series, whilst in 2012 Glamorgan’s headquarters successfully hosted Twenty20 Finals Day. 2013 saw a batch of games in the ICC Champions Trophy being staged at the Cardiff ground, and the coming summer will see further international action as Glamorgan once again play host to matches in the ICC Champions Trophy, besides being the venue for an International Twenty20 contest between England and South Africa.