The signing of Ireland men's captain Andrew Balbirnie for the forthcoming Vitality Blast tournament continues the long association between Glamorgan and Ireland (writes Andrew Hignell).
This link stretches back to the 1920s and 1930s when the Welsh Cricket Union organized annual matches against the Irish team, with the inaugural contest taking place in 1923 at Cardiff Arms Park and followed the next year by matches in Belfast. These games were briefly resurrected during the 1950s, with Glamorgan playing the Gentlemen of Ireland at Margam in 1953, before successful end-of-season tours took place to Cork and District during the early 1960s.
Several Glamorgan players have also had distinguished coaching careers in Ireland, including Eddie Bates, the county’s batsman of the 1920s and early 1930s, who moved to the Emerald Isle after the Second World War and remained there until his death in Belfast in 1957. All-rounder John Solanky, who played for the Welsh county during the 1970s, also moved across the Irish Sea at the end of his county career and coached at the Lisburn and Cliftonville clubs, before starting a second career as a teacher of Technology in Carrickfergus.
In more recent times, Ryan Eagleson and Jack Tector - the elder brother of current international Harry Tector - have each played for Glamorgan 2nd XI, whilst Mark Cohen, who scored over 2,500 runs for Ireland between 1980 and 1994 also had a spell on the Glamorgan staff during the early 1980s. Like Andrew Balbirnie, Mark also had a short stint on Middlesex’s books, but despite some decent scores in 2nd XI cricket, Mark could not break into the 1st XI of either Glamorgan or Middlesex.
During the 1960s, the Glamorgan committee also considered hiring the services of Paddy Hennessy, the famed baseball international. Born in County Cork, Paddy had settled in Cardiff and won acclaim as a superfast bowler. His talents attracted the attention of the Glamorgan hierarchy and Ossie Wheatley, the Club’s captain, invited Paddy to the nets at the Arms Park believing that his style of delivering the ball could be a secret weapon in the newly-instigated Gillette Cup. However, after discussions with the MCC at Lord’s, it was felt that his underarm bowling style, without letting the ball bounce, would contravene the Laws of the game and nothing further came of his brief association with Glamorgan cricket.