The euphoria of 1993 turned into disappointment in 1994 as the Welsh county slumped back to the bottom of the Championship table and ended up in seventh place in the Sunday League. A defeat by Surrey at The Oval also saw Glamorgan exit the Benson and Hedges Cup in the early stages, before the South London side returned to Wales in mid-July to win the quarter-final match in the Nat West Trophy.
Glamorgan had secured a place in the last eight of the 60 overs competition with a 160-run demolition of Lincolnshire in their first-round game at Swansea, with centurions Steve James and Adrian Dale sharing a second wicket stand of 204 against the Minor County. Essex then visited Sophia Gardens for their second -round encounter with the Welsh county, but Hugh Morris’ side proved superior in every aspect of the rain-affected game as their 76-run success set-up a fifth successive quarter-final. Half-centuries from Matthew Maynard, Tony Cottey and Robert Croft powered Glamorgan to an impressive 316-8 before Roland Lefebvre cheaply removed both of Essex’s openers. New overseas signing Ottis Gibson, the West Indian fast bowler, then filleted the middle-order to vindicate his acquisition to bolster the bowling attack as Glamorgan easily overcame some lethargic batting.
Their reward was another quarter-final at St. Helen’s but, with the first day of the contest with Surrey having been washed out, the visitors then won a decisive toss and saw Tony Murphy return career-best bowling figures of 6/26 with an indication of the exaggerated lateral movement he extracted from the surface coming from the fact that Alec Stewart, the visiting wicket-keeper and captain, claimed seven catches to break the competition record. Glamorgan’s total of 161 was put into context with Graham Thorpe, the England batter, making an assertive fifty as Surrey eased to victory with 68 balls to spare.
Glamorgan, by the time of their departure of the Nat West Trophy, had a solitary Championship victory to their name, against Gloucestershire at Bristol. In the Sunday League, they were still paying the price for an indifferent start to the summer. A sequence of wins were recorded mid-summer including a five-wicket victory over Derbyshire at Swansea with Morris and Maynard adding 104 in 16 overs, whilst Lancashire were beaten by 27 runs in front of a near full house at Colwyn Bay after Morris had made an unbeaten 99 and Steve Barwick had claimed 4/38 with his miserly off-cutters.
Above – Steve James (left) and Tony Cottey batting in a white-ball match against Durham at Swansea. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
August 1994 saw Glamorgan unbeaten in the Sunday League with the defending champions defeating Middlesex at Lord’s by seven wickets besides beating Durham at Hartlepool after Steve James had posted 102 with Tony Cottey chipping in with an impish 66 from 45 balls, before Lefebvre took 4/23 to see Glamorgan to a 19-run victory. Their winning sequence continued as Barwick yet again exploited a helpful wicket at Neath, taking 4/6 in the space of nine balls as Leicestershire were defeated by 33 runs.
By the team, the season ended, Glamorgan had only recorded one further Championship victory – during late August at Sophia Gardens over Leicestershire at Sophia Gardens and only after Tony Cottey had rescued them from the uncompromising position of 149-7 with a five-hour century. After Glamorgan had secured a first innings lead, Croft struck a no-nonsense 80 before taking 5/80 with his off-spin to give the Welsh county a victory by 150 runs.
David Hemp and Tony Cottey were the only two batters to amass over 1,000 Championship runs, with the former ending the season as the club’s leading run-scorer and securing a place on the England A tour to India. Hugh Morris, in his Benefit Year, also failed to score 1,000 Championship runs besides being handicapped by a troublesome knee which required surgery in early September. Maynard, after a disappointing winter tour to the Caribbean with England, also broke a thumb early in the season and also ended short of the thousand mark in Championship cricket.
Maynard ended his barren spell as the touring South Africans visited Pontypridd. Leading the side in the absence of the injured Morris, he saw Hemp make a cultured century before half-centuries from night-watchman Richard Snell and Hansie Cronje saw the tourists make a spirited riposte. With Adrian Shaw, the Club’s reserve wicket-keeper, having suffered a facial injury whilst batting, it was Maynard who stumped Cronje for 78 off the bowling of the wily Croft, before posting a quickfire century to leave the tourists with a target of 272 from 58 overs. But after Gibson had made early inroads, the Springboks opted for batting practice ahead of the Third Test at The Oval.