Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
The one-wicket victory against Worcestershire at New Road also reflected the fine team spirit which Hugh Morris and his deputy Matthew Maynard had engendered, and with the nucleus of the team having risen via the Colts and Welsh Schools side, there was a great hwyl amongst the 1st XI together with a mix of self-belief and a will to win, all cleverly fostered by Viv Richards who was so desperate to end his illustrious career on a high and thank his team-mates and the Welsh public as a whole for their support and generosity after his rather acrimonious departure from Somerset.
Indeed, as Glamorgan rode high in the Championship, Sunday League and NatWest Trophy, they played in front of sizeable crowds as they took county cricket around the Principality, with their list of venues also being swelled by the staging of their one-day friendly against the Zimbabweans at Christ College, Brecon.
The large crowds were also a reward for a bold recruitment drive which increased membership from 3,600 to around 11,000 as Glamorgan boasted the second-largest tally amongst the shires, besides swelling their coffers to the tune of £137,000. Organised in association with new sponsors Andersen Consulting and Paul Russell, it saw the cost of annual membership scythed from £45 to £15, with players and staff also undertaking a whistle-stop tour, dressed in their new one-day kit of dark blue and yellow and distributing promotional leaflets in every major town and city in Wales.
With other promotional events taking place, and a membership desk near the entrance into home grounds, manned by Russell and others, it meant that there were few spare seats available at Cardiff whilst temporary stands were hired for the Club’s three home cup ties. The increased attendance was much to the players liking – “I’m a much better player in front of five thousand than five hundred” said one of the county’s players as the sporting public of Wales, and further afield took the opportunity of taking out cut-price membership and saving on admission charges
Besides having a successful strategy to boost memberships, Glamorgan also had a clear game-plan for Championship cricket, based around a positive approach to batting and having enough time for the bowlers to dismiss the opposition. It was also implemented during the match against the touring Australians at Neath – the third and final match of the partnership with the local Development Corporation which had seen the 1985 and 1989 tour parties also visit The Gnoll.
The large and appreciative crowd saw high-class hundreds from David Boon and Mark Waugh on the opening day before Maynard defied the wiles of legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne by scoring 132 before lunch on the second day. In all, he scored 25 fours and a five as he completed a magisterial hundred from just 73 balls, although those watching on BBC Wales were not so fortunate as shortly before Maynard became Glamorgan’s first centurion against Australia for 32 years, viewers were returned to the studio for the weekly weather forecast!
Later that day, the champagne corks were popping in the Glamorgan dressing room as it was confirmed that both Maynard and Watkin had been included in the England squad for the Fifth Test against the Australians. For Watkin, it was a deserved reward for a season which saw him become the country’s leading wicket-taker with 92 victims from 766.4 overs. However, the lion-hearted seamer was surplus to requirements at Edgbaston as the tourists won by eight wickets. But he was retained in the party for the final Test at The Oval, where the seamer duly made the side and took the field alongside Maynard as, for the first time in Glamorgan’s history, two of the county’s team represented England at Test level. Perhaps it should have happened more often as Australia were routed by 161 runs!