The Ashes Test Match staged at Sophia Gardens in July 2009 was the first major game to be played across five days in Wales with, as shown above, England’s opening batsmen walking out from the pavilion at Sophia Gardens to tumultuous applause from a capacity crowd of 15,500 before facing the Australian bowlers.

But it was not the first-ever five day match in Wales as 133 years before the historic Test at Cardiff, an ingenious contest spanning five successive days was staged by the Llanrwst Tradesmens club, with their 1st XI meeting their 2nd XI from Tuesday 16 May until Saturday 20 May.

Like many other workingmen’s clubs in England and Wales, the members of the Llanrwst Tradesmens club held their practice early in the morning before they headed off to work, so this five-day game was staged from 6.30am until 8am across these five days at the ground of Llanrwst.

For the record, the 1st XI amassed a total of 210 runs, as opposed to the 167 aggregated by the 2nd XI, with the former winning this ingenious contest by 43 runs.