Rain prevented any play on the first day of Glamorgan’s opening first-class game of the 2016 season against Cardiff MCCU at The SSE SWALEC.
In theory, this weekend marked the changing of the guard as far as the sporting seasons were concerned, with Saturday witnessing the Crabbies Grand National at Aintree whilst Sunday saw the start of another long-distance race with the start of the Specsavers County Championship. Glamorgan are sitting out the opening round of games in the four-day competition with the Welsh county being one of a batch of clubs with games against the merging talent at the Various MCC Universities.
But the dank conditions and low cloud base this morning at The SSE SWALEC this morning were akin to mid-winter than spring. After steady rain throughout the night plus more rain and leaden skies this morning, umpires Alex Wharf and Ian Blackwell had the relatively straightforward decision at 10.30 a.m. of deciding that there would be no play before lunch. The rain eased after lunch, but after an inspection at 3pm, the umpires called off play for the day.
"Colin Ingram, Michael Hogan and new recruit Timm van der Gugten included in a 13-man Glamorgan squad for the contest."
The student team, drawn from the Universities of Cardiff, Glamorgan and Cardiff Met, were Glamorgan’s opponents in the opening first-class match of the 2015 season with the game ending all-square after rain had intervened and washed out the opening day of the contest. The weather also played a hand in 2014, with precipitation on the final day as Glamorgan pressed for victory against the students.
Cardiff MCCU were in action last week against Hampshire at The Ageas Bowl, where Jeremy Lawlor – one of several promising young cricketers on Glamorgan’s books - scored a career-best 81 against an attack which included 1st XI regular Chris Wood, plus South African Ryan McLaren. The game against Hampshire was also affected by the weather on the South Coast but not before Alex Thomson, a Minor County cricketer with Staffordshire, had taken seven wickets with his off-spin for the students.
A number of other young players who have close links with the Welsh county are also in the Cardiff MCCU squad for this game including their captain Neil Brand, a free-scoring batsman from South Africa who has played for Glamorgan 2nd XI for the past two seasons, as well as former Academy member Sean Griffiths, plus Greg Holmes – the son of the late Glamorgan star Geoff Holmes – and seam bowler Richard Edwards, whilst also in the students squad is former Gloucestershire wicket-keeper Cameron Herring.
The presence of these promising young cricketers means that the game will be a decent work-out for the county professionals with Colin Ingram, Michael Hogan and new recruit Timm van der Gugten included in a 13-man Glamorgan squad for the contest as they complete their preparations for the start of the Championship season next Sunday at The SSE SWALEC against Leicestershire and a busy schedule of four-day cricket during the rest of April and May.
Glamorgan have already met the students in 2016 in a pre-season game a fortnight ago at The SSE SWALEC. However, the 45-overs contest was affected by the weather with the professionals on 162/2 from 31 overs when the rain brought a premature end to proceedings.
Please note that the hours of play for this game on Tuesday are 11.00 am to 6.30 pm, with lunch at 1.15 pm and tea at 4.10 pm. On Wednesday, lunch will be taken at 1.00 pm, with tea at 3.40 pm, whilst the close of play will be approximately 6 pm, with a minimum of 20 overs to be bowled in the final hour, starting at 5 pm.