May 1, 2, 3 South Wales v Yorkshire at Cardiff Arms Park – Lost by 7 wickets
June 2, 3 v Monmouthshire at Cardiff Arms Park – Lost by an innings and 16 runs
June 12, 13 v Wiltshire at Chippenham – Lost by 54 runs
June 19, 20 v Northumberland at Newcastle-upon-Tyne – Match Drawn
June 21, 22 v Durham at West Hartlepool – Lost by 290 runs
June 30, July 1 v Northumberland at St. Helen’s, Swansea – Match Drawn
July 17, 18 v MCC and Ground at Cardiff Arms Park – Won by 82 runs
July 19, 20 v Berkshire at Cardiff Arms Park – Won by an innings and 1 run
July 26, 27 v Devon at Cardiff Arms Park – Lost by 1 wicket
July 28, 29 v Wiltshire at Cardiff Arms Park – Match Drawn
July 31, Aug 1 v Durham at Cardiff Arms Park – Match Drawn
Aug 7, 8 South Wales v Australians at Cardiff Arms Park – Match Drawn
Aug 11, 12 v Surrey 2nd XI at The Oval – Match Drawn
Aug 14, 15 v Berkshire at Reading – Won by 3 wickets
Aug 18, 19 v Monmouthshire at Rodney Parade, Newport – Match Drawn
Aug 25, 26 v Devon at Exeter – Lost by 5 wickets
Aug 28, 29 v Surrey 2nd XI at St. Helen’s, Swansea – Match Drawn
During the Autumn of 1904, Glamorgan’s officials came very close to a quite audacious coup in bringing Test cricket to Cardiff. It followed an application to the MCC to stage the first Test of the 1905 series against Australia, with Jack Brain and others making a series of presentations to MCC officials. Nottinghamshire had also approached Lord’s and after listening to their talk, the MCC committee voted on whether the game should be allocated to Trent Bridge or the Arms Park. An equal number of votes were cast in favour of each venue and it was only after the Chairman’s casting vote that Nottingham won the day.
Above – two images from the match in 1905 between South Wales and the Australians at the Arms Park. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
Nevertheless, the MCC had been highly impressed by Glamorgan’s presentation and they had no hesitation in awarding a three-day match to the Arms Park in August 1905 when Glamorgan joined forces with Monmouthshire to play the Australians. The game drew a crowd in excess of 10,000 on the opening day, but the Australian bowlers proved far too strong with only Billy Bancroft offering any lengthy resistance. Their batters then put the Welsh bowling to the sword, as Charlie McLeod struck a vibrant century to give his side a lead of 229 runs. He then claimed some early wickets as South Wales slipped to 80/3. Another defeat was on the cards, but a heavy storm washed out much of the final day.
Glamorgan may have held dreams of achieving first-class status but their results in 1905 proved to be far from distinguished. Bancroft was the only batter in any sort of form and ended the season with an average of 51. On the bowling front, Harry Creber took 100 wickets, with his success masking the Club’s very slender bowling resources, with the spinner often bowling unchanged throughout a game. As a result, Glamorgan slipped back to ninth place in the table, with the overall results showing that work was needed in raising a stronger team if the Club was going to mount an application to play in the County Championship.