Glamorgan travel to Northampton for their next contest in the LV=County Championship which is scheduled to start at the Wantage Road ground at 11am on Thursday, 22 April. (writes Andrew Hignell)
Northampton was the scene of a remarkable debut century last summer by Callum Taylor, as well as a 62-ball blitzkrieg by Marchant de Lange as the all-rounder bludgeoned Glamorgan’s fastest-ever hundred in first-class cricket. The East Midlands ground was also the venue for Glamorgan’s first-ever hundred in Championship cricket with Billy Spiller reaching three figures in the contest in the summer of 1921. But the efforts of the Cardiff policeman, like those of Taylor and de Lange last summer, were in a losing cause as the Welsh county went down to their first of 22 defeats in 53 Championship matches at Northampton’s headquarters.
This was in contrast to Billy Root’s career-best 229 at Northampton in 2019 which laid the foundations for an innings victory as Glamorgan reached a sizeable first innings total of 547 being trouncing the Northamptonshire batsmen thanks to some hostile seam bowling by the triumvirate of Michael Hogan, Timm van der Gugten and de Lange as Northamptonshire were dismissed for 209 and 195.Billy’s double-century was also the highest individual score made by a Glamorgan batsman against Northamptonshire, breaking the previous best of 228* held by Roy Fredericks at Swansea in 1972 – a game which saw the West Indian maestro share an opening stand of 330 with Glamorgan batting legend Alan Jones.
Glamorgan’s handsome victory in 2019 was their first since 2012 in Championship cricket at Wantage Road and their 12th victory at Northampton in first-class cricket. As far as the game in 2012 was concerned, Glamorgan won by three wickets thanks to a composed innings by Jim Allenby, plus a breezy knock by John Glover, which saw the Welsh county successfully chase a target of 351 on the final day.
2016 and 2017 had each seen Northamptonshire record sizeable victories at their headquarters. The game in 2017 saw Glamorgan lose by an innings and 22 runs in a contest dominated by seam bowlers, whilst their visit to Northampton in 2016 saw Glamorgan lose a match where the spinners were dominant. Rob Keogh and Graeme White shared all twenty wickets between them, whilst Kiran Carlson, the Welsh county’s teenage debutant, claimed a ‘five-for’ with his occasional spin bowling.
As far as the Club’s bowling records are concerned against Northants, they are dominated by the performances of legendary bowlers Don Shepherd and Johnnie Clay. ‘Shep’ holds the record for best figures in an innings against the East Midlands side having taken 9/47 when bowling seam-up at Cardiff Arms Park in 1954, whilst Johnnie returned match figures of 15/86 at Llanelli in 1935 - the summer when the off-spinner was also called up to make his one and only England appearance, against the South Africans at The Oval.