(writes Andrew Hignell)
Glamorgan travel to Northampton for their next match in the Specsavers County Championship as they meet the East Midlands side in the four-day contest scheduled to start at the Wantage Road ground at 11.00 a.m. on Sunday, June 2nd.
After their draw against Sussex at Hove, and the second double-century stand during May between Nick Selman and Marnus Labuschagne, Glamorgan – who remain unbeaten in the four-day competition this summer - are in fifth place in the Division Two table with Northamptonshire, who were not in action last week, in ninth spot.
On their most recent visit to Northampton in 2017, Glamorgan lost by an innings and 22 runs in a contest dominated by seam bowlers. Indeed, the Welsh county nosedived to 26/6 during the first session before recovering and claiming early wickets themselves. But Rory Kleinveldt, the burly South African all-rounder, played a game-changing innings by bludgeoning fifty from 23 balls, with his muscular efforts putting the home side into the ascendancy.
It had been very different the year before as Glamorgan’s visit to Northampton in 2016 saw them lose a match dominated by the spinners. Rob Keogh and Graeme White shared all twenty Glamorgan wickets between them, whilst Kiran Carlson, Glamorgan’s teenage debutant claimed a ‘fiver-for’ on his first Championship appearance.
September 2015 saw the match at Northampton being decimated by the weather as the remnants of Tropical Storm Henri led to 206 overs being lost as the game ended in a draw. Northamptonshire were also victorious at Wantage Road in 2013 as they recorded an innings victory, but the Welsh county can look back more fondly on their visit in 2012 to Northampton.
In that match seven years ago, 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 secure a hard-fought victory in a rain-affected contest as they successfully chased a target of 351 on the final day.