Glamorgan sitting on top of table as Middlesex arrive
GLAMORGAN return to LV= Insurance County Championship action today with the four-day contest against Middlesex starting at Sophia Gardens.
Glamorgan’s outstanding victory on Sunday against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge has catapulted the Welsh county into top spot in the Division Two table with David Lloyd’s team producing an emphatic seven-wicket win against a team which had been tipped by many as the likely winners of the Division.
It was their first Championship victory since 1998 at Trent Bridge ground, with the sevenwicket win ending a 24-year drought at the east Midlands ground.
However, it is thirty one years since Glamorgan last recorded a Championship victory at their Cardiff base against Middlesex, with the victory in June 1991 coming during a rain-affected contest as four-wicket hauls by off-cutter Steve Barwick and seamer Mark Frost saw Glamorgan to a 129-run victory.
This also remains the Welsh county’s sole Championship victory in fifteen matches against Middlesex at Sophia Gardens.
Glamorgan head coach Matt Maynard was naturally delighted with the performance and the result at Trent Bridge and paid tribute to his bowlers, whose efforts on the third day paved the way for the victory.
“It was a great contest to be fair. Both sides worked so hard to get the wickets and also fight with the bat and it was great to come out on top on this occasion,” said Maynard.
“It was a very good cricket pitch and it got slightly flatter as the match went on but there was still a little bit in it for the bowlers.
“I thought the way we bowled on day three was superb and put Notts under a lot of pressure and that won us the game.
“It would have been very disappointing not to knock off 166 because it was a decent wicket.
“It was a nice partnership between Marnus (Labuschagne) and Kiran (Carlson). We had a decent start with the bat from the opening pair, but the way Andrew Salter and Lloydy played at the top was terrific and gave us a good start and to then see Kiran and Marnus finish it off was brilliant.
“It was very pleasing to get a seven-wicket win and take the points away.”
The Middlesex game will also be a landmark occasion for wicket-keeper Chris Cooke who is set to make his 100th appearance in a first-class match for Glamorgan.