Glamorgan look to maintain good start
GLAMORGAN look to maintain their excellent start to the LV= Insurance County Championship season when they welcome Middlesex to Sophia Gardens today for the start of their third four-day contest of the season.
Glamorgan’s outstanding seven-wicket victory on Sunday afternoon at Trent Bridge took the Welsh county to top spot in the division two table after David Lloyd’s team produced an emphatic win against a team tipped by many as the likely winners of the division.
It was also Glamorgan’s first Championship victory since 1998 at Trent Bridge, the win ending a 24-year drought at the Nottingham ground.
However, it is 31 years since Glamorgan last recorded a Championship victory in Cardiff against Middlesex, that win in June 1991 coming during a rain-affected contest as fourwicket hauls by off-cutter Steve Barwick and seamer Mark Frost saw Glamorgan to a 129run victory.
It also remains the Welsh county’s sole Championship victory in 15 matches against Middlesex at Sophia Gardens after the move at the end of 1966 away from the Arms Park.
Since Glamorgan’s victory at Sophia Gardens back in 1991, the nine Championship games with Middlesex have seen seven defeats and two draws against the Londoners, with Middlesex winning by an innings in 1997, 1998 and 2005, as well as being victorious by 10 wickets in 1993, by eight wickets in 2002 and by six wickets in 2010.
Middlesex also recorded a comfortable victory on their most recent visit to the Welsh capital as Toby Roland-jones claimed a nine-wicket match haul and centuries by Dawid Malan and Sam Robson laid the foundations for their win by 256 runs.
This current game will also be a landmark occasion for wicketkeeper Chris Cooke, who is set to make his 100th appearance in a firstclass match for Glamorgan.