Glamorgan’s victory last Monday afternoon over Somerset at Trent Bridge in the Final of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup saw the Welsh county win their fifth piece of silverware in limited-overs cricket, besides bringing to an end a highly successful season, both collectively and individually in the white-ball competition. (writes Andrew Hignell)
The win by 15 runs over Somerset saw Kiran Carlson and his team secure the Club’s fifth one-day title, following on from the Sunday League crown in 1993, winning the One-Day Leagues in 2002 and 2004, as well as the Royal London One-Day Cup in 2021. The win at Trent Bridge was also the fifteenth victory in one-day games during the season – a total which Glamorgan had also achieved in 1995 and one which is surpassed only by seventeen in 2004 and eighteen in 1993.
2024 was also the first time for sixty years that Glamorgan won all of their home games in List A cricket. On that previous occasion, in 1964, the Welsh county only played three List A matches, winning their home encounters in the Gillette Cup against Worcestershire at Rodney Parade, Newport by one wicket and against Essex at The Gnoll, Neath by seven runs before losing to Lancashire at Old Trafford by six wickets.
Their unbeaten home record in 2024 saw wins at Sophia Gardens by 27 runs against Gloucestershire, by 62 runs over the Yorkshire Vikings and by 39 runs against Warwickshire, as well as successes in the back-to-back games at Neath with an eight-wicket victory over the Notts Outlaws followed by a nail-biting one-wicket win over the Sussex Sharks.
Glamorgan also won their first five games in the Metro Bank One-Day competition in 2024, equalling their best-ever start to a List A season and a feat achieved in 1990, 2003 and 2004.
Turning to individual performances in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, Dan Douthwaite and Andy Gorvin were the joint leading wicket-takers in the competition during 2024, along with Ed Barnard of Warwickshire, as all three bowlers claiming 19 wickets. Both Dan and Andy also returned career-best figures during the List A competition with Dan taking 4/25 against Gloucestershire at Sophia Gardens and Andy completing a haul of 5/56 against the Notts Outlaws at Neath.
Timm van der Gugten also returned career-best figures in List A cricket for Glamorgan of 5/49 in the contest against Leicestershire at Grace Road. Only one other bowler in the competition had a superior economy rate than Timm during 2024, with Yorkshire’s Ben Coad returning a rate of 3.05 compared with Timm’s 3.46. During the Metro Bank competition, Timm also bowled 310 dot balls – equivalent to 73% of his total of 426 deliveries, with Timm’s most frugal performance coming at Neath against the Sussex Sharks where 50 of his 60 deliveries were dot balls.
Will Smale also enjoyed an outstanding first season behind the stumps in List A cricket for Glamorgan, with the young batter-keeper claiming 22 catches - the highest number for any side in the One-Day Cup during 2024. Overall, Gareth Roderick claimed the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper with the Worcestershire gloveman taking 19 catches and making 4 stumpings.