Glamorgan commence their 100th summer as a first-class county by visiting Taunton on Saturday, 1st August for their opening contest in the Bob Willis Trophy against Somerset (start time - 1100am).
Somerset were the runners-up in Division One of the County Championship last year and they have already begun the summer in fine fettle, emphatically defeating Gloucestershire by an innings in a pre-season warm-up match over four days split between their respective headquarters at Taunton and Bristol.
This will be the Welsh county’s first visit to Taunton for a first-class match for thirteen years, with their most recent visit in 2007 seeing Somerset win by 299 runs after Andy Caddick had claimed 4/48 to see the West Country side to victory inside three days against a Glamorgan side led by Mark Wallace.
Glamorgan’s most recent Championship victory at Taunton was in September 1997 when the foundations for a ten-wicket victory were laid by a brilliant hundred from Matthew Maynard, ably supported by a century from Hugh Morris before. on the third evening of the game and amidst joyous scenes, Steve James hit the winning runs as Glamorgan won the County Championship title.
The Welsh county’s first innings total of 527 in 1997 remains their highest-ever on Somerset soil whilst Javed Miandad’s unbeaten 200 during 1981 is still the highest individual score made by a Glamorgan batsman at Taunton. As far as bowling is concerned, Frank Ryan’s match haul of 12/65 at Taunton in 1924 remains the best by a Glamorgan bowler in Somerset with the left-arm spinner’s haul seeing the Welsh county to victory by an innings and 128 runs.
It could be a landmark match for Michael Hogan with the evergreen bowler needing a further six victims to reach a career tally of 600 wickets in all first-class cricket – and at a ground where he has never bowled before in first-class cricket. Ahead of this game, Michael’s impressive tally includes 370 first-class wickets for Glamorgan plus 224 for Western Australia.
(Andrew Hignell)