As far as finishes are concerned this was something quite remarkable as Glamorgan 2nd XI, in their Second Eleven Championship match at the Edgbaston Community Sports Ground in Birmingham, set Warwickshire 2nd XI a target of 514 for victory in their four-day encounter before dramatically dismissing the home side for 512 to win an extraordinary contest by just one run. (writes Andrew Hignell)
After Alex Horton had scored a career-best 186 for Glamorgan in their first innings and Eddie Byrom had made an unbeaten 135 in their second, Billy Root - who was leading the Welsh county’s second string - set Warwickshire their mammoth target, with the home side reaching 175-2 by the close of play on the third day. A series of half-centuries from Hamza Shaikh (84), Vansh Jani (68) and Oliver Dandy (62) allowed Warwickshire to chisel away at the target before Arjun Nahal continued the chase with Warwickshire reaching 424-7 by tea on the final day.
Soon afterwards, Nahal completed his century from 157 balls before continuing to work the ball around as the 500 came up in the 148th over with Warwickshire still having two wickets in hand. But four overs later, and with the total on 510, Mohammed Rizvi – a leg-spinner from Hertfordshire who has played for Oxford University - had Eddie Miller caught behind the wicket by Horton before two runs and four balls later, the triallist clean bowled Arafat Bhuiyan to seal a stunning victory for Glamorgan and to spark jubilant celebrations amongst the Welsh county’s fielders.
This was the first time since 2003 that a Second Eleven Championship match has ended in a victory by one run, with the other occasions being:
1977 – Gloucestershire 2nd XI beat Warwickshire 2nd XI at Edgbaston
1980 – Warwickshire 2nd XI beat Worcestershire 2nd XI at Amblecote
1994 – Essex 2nd XI beat Worcestershire 2nd XI at Chelmsford
2003 - Yorkshire 2nd XI beat Lancashire 2nd XI at Old Trafford
For the record, this was the narrowest winning margin by Glamorgan in the Second Eleven competition beating their 2-run victory at Barry Island against Middlesex 2nd XI in 1978