It’s been thirteen years since Glamorgan last appeared at Twenty20 Finals Day, and after their clinical, nine-wicket victory over the Leicestershire Foxes at Cardiff on Wednesday night, the Welsh county can look forward to their big day at Edgbaston on Saturday, September 2nd.
Some may consider thirteen to be a lucky number but their last appearance at Finals Day back in 2004 at Edgbaston saw a defeat in their semi-final, ironically against the Leicestershire Foxes, in what was only their thirteenth game in the short format. The semi-final in 2017 will be the 169th scheduled T20 game for the Welsh county, and an awful lot has changed during these thirteen years and 156 matches.
Whilst the Glamorgan players who appeared at Finals Day in 2004 relied on the traditional skills of one-day cricket in the 40, 45, 50 and 55 overs competitions, the Twenty20 games have subsequently metamorphosed from what many thought would be a bit of “a hit and giggle” into the cutting-edge of modern cricket, with highly inventive forms of bowling, with knuckle balls and cross seam deliveries, as well as innovative batting strokes, including the ramp strokes and reverse sweeps aplenty, with these clever skills with bat and ball being abundantly apparent as Glamorgan have progressed from the group stages to a coveted place at county cricket’s big day out in Birmingham over the first weekend of September.
The seeds for the Welsh county’s rise to Finals Day 2017 were sown, at least, in 2016 with their progress to the quarter-finals, although some will argue that the acquisition of Colin Ingram in 2015 heralded the Welsh county’s rise to the showcase event of the county schedule. Having made 376 runs in his debut season, the southpaw blitzed a further 502 runs during 2016 as Glamorgan ended in second place between Gloucestershire in the Southern Group and secured a home quarter-final against the Yorkshire Vikings.
However, the contest on August 11th, 2016 saw Jacques Rudolph’s team produce their worse collective performance of the season as they lost by 90 runs, but the side have regrouped for the 2017 campaign and despite seeing a series of games lost to the weather, they have become the form team of the summer, besides creating a host of new records in white ball cricket to leave the statisticians salivating at what might be next on the agenda.
So what is different about the team of 2017 and are there any comparisons to the squad of 2004? The simple answer to the latter question is not really, given that the Glamorgan squad thirteen years ago was largely built around the wise heads from the 1997 Championship-winning team and the appearance at Lord’s for the final of Benson and Hedges Cup in 2000. This spine of experience thirteen years ago included Matthew Maynard, Robert Croft , Dean Cosker, Adrian Dale, Michael Powell and Darren Thomas, as well as emerging wicket-keeper Mark Wallace and a pair of outstanding overseas players in the Australian duo of Matthew Elliott and Michael Kasprowicz, plus Alex Wharf signed from Nottinghamshire, young bucks in Jonathan Hughes and Ryan Watkins and one-day specialists in Andrew Davies and Ian Thomas, with the latter posting an unbeaten 116 against Somerset at Taunton in 2004 which, despite the batting fireworks in recent years of Colin Ingram, still remains as the highest individual score in Twenty20 cricket.
The major difference is that the class of 2017 have honed their skills in the cauldron of Twenty20 cricket rather than in the more sedate forms of white ball cricket, and every member of the squad has played a role at different times during the competition. For Aneurin Donald and Andrew Salter, who cut his teeth during Glamorgan’s successful campaign in the Yorkshire Bank Pro40 which resulted in a Lord’s final in 2013, the matches during the domestic Twenty20 competition have given them an opportunity to further develop their skills with bat and ball in hand, and with a license to hit freely, Donald has come of age as an opening batsman in the short format during 2017.
Other youngsters – notably Lukas Carey, Nick Selman and Kiran Carlson - have also had opportunities to transfer their skillsets from Championship cricket, and in the victories at The Kia Oval and Taunton respectively, Carey removed the dangerous Jason Roy first ball, whilst Selman posted a maiden white-ball fifty, and in the last two games at Cardiff, Carlson’s smart fielding has been a feature of the game, including the run out of Aadil Ali in the quarter-final. In each case, these have been pivotal efforts in a winning cause, proving the old adage that young players can thrive in a winning environment.
The batting triumvirate of Jacques Rudolph, Colin Ingram and David Miller (who ironically did not face a ball on Welsh soil) provided the run-scoring ballast for the batting, with each worldly-wise in both the longer and short-form of the game on the international and domestic stage, with Ingram’s six-hitting prowess once again, making him one of the county game’s most valuable players. Their contrasting talents with bat in hand have also allowed Chris Cooke, who has also kept wicket very capably and Graham Wagg – two other free spirits in the batting line-up - to express themselves and to play important innings at other times in the closing overs of the Twenty20 campaign. We should also not forget at this point that one of the batting stars from the 2016 team also missed much of the 2017 campaign with hard-hitting opening batsman David Lloyd, who last summer clubbed an unbeaten 97 from 49 balls against the Kent Spitfires at Cardiff, on the sidelines with a forearm and side strain.
From a bowling perspective, the clever seam and parsimony of Michael Hogan, plus the raw pace and machismo of Marchant de Lange has made them highly effective “death” bowlers with the former’s clever efforts at The Oval and the latter’s monumental closing spell at Taunton, sealing decisive victories for the team. But de Lange’s abilities are not confined to just the closing overs as the recent games against Middlesex and the Leicestershire Foxes have each seen him shine with the new ball in hand.
The clever back of length deliveries from Timm van der Gugten, plus the left-arm swing and subtly slower deliveries of Wagg, have all proved a very potent mixture, well supported by the miserly seam of Craig Meschede and the heavy balls of Carey, whilst the off-spin of Andrew Salter, plus the leg-breaks of Colin Ingram have given Glamorgan an attack which covers all bases.
The next question is whether there have been any turning points during the season. Once again the answer is most definitely yes, with the first coming on May 12th at The Ageas Bowl as Glamorgan successfully chased a target of 333 in 50 overs in their Royal London One-Day Cup match against Hampshire. After James Vince had pummelled the visiting attack for 178, many sides could have been forgiven for throwing in the towel, but not the class of 2017 as Ingram and Cooke led the way to secure a stunning victory during the last over.
Ten days later the pair of batsmen were at the forefront again in what many regard as the defining moment of the season, as on the final day of the Specsavers Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Cardiff, they batted all day in an unbroken and match-saving stand of 226 in 83.1 overs. Set in the context of the previous six weeks, their doughty efforts to defy the runaway leaders of Division Two galvanised the squad and confirmed the resilience, fighting character and hwyl of the team.
On several occasions during the group stages of the Twenty20 competition, Jacques Rudolph and his men were under the cosh, but this “never-say-die” attitude and collective belief have seen Glamorgan into a winning position. They nearly became the first-ever team to qualify for the last eight without a home win in the group stages, but despite a few showers, the Welsh county rounded off their campaign in the group stages by defeating Middlesex by seven wickets at their Cardiff headquarters, before nine-wicket demolition of the Leicestershire Foxes, in front of a jubilant crowd on an emotional evening at The SSE SWALEC to clinch a place at Finals Day at Edgbaston on September 2nd..