Glamorgan won their first two Championship matches in 1995, beating Somerset and Northamptonshire before winning their first four one-day games. However, their form dipped in both formats with Glamorgan ending the season close to the foot of the Championship table besides failing to make the quarter-finals of the Benson and Hedges Cup, and finishing in sixth place in the Sunday League. However, they did progress to the last four of the Nat West Trophy having overwhelmed Dorset by ten wickets at Cardiff with Hugh Morris leading by example with a 112-ball century. This was followed by a six-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Grace Road, with their reward being a quarter-final at Cardiff against Middlesex at Sophia Gardens.
They duly won by 66 runs thanks to a four-wicket haul by Hamish Anthony, their locum overseas player who had replaced fellow West Indian Ottis Gibson, plus some superb wicket-keeping by Man-of-the-Match Colin Metson who took an astonishing reflex catch as Keith Brown attempted a reverse sweep against Robert Croft.
Opposite – Hamish Anthony. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
There were hopes of a first Lord’s final in 18 years, but the semi-final at Sophia Gardens saw Glamorgan quite literally blown away by Warwickshire. A capacity crowd duly turned up, but they were stunned into silence after the Welsh county opted to bat first before subsiding to 77-8 by lunch, after both Matthew Maynard and David Hemp had been run out after underestimating the fielding prowess of Trevor Penney.
Their eventual total of 86 from 47 paltry overs was never going to be enough with Warwickshire easing their way to victory. The fall-out from this embarrassing defeat saw Hugh Morris announce on the first day of the final Championship match of the season against Nottinghamshire at Sophia Gardens that he would not be seeking re-election as captain for 1996 as he wanted to concentrate, once again, on his batting.
Despite the fact that Glamorgan only won three Championship games during the season, 1995 proved to be a stand-out summer for Tony Cottey whose 1445 runs at an average of 51. It was also a notable summer in one-day cricket for Steve James who amassed a Club record of 1,270 runs besides confirming his prowess in the longer format by posting an unbeaten 230 against Leicestershire in the Championship encounter at Grace Road
1995 also saw a remarkable innings for Gloucestershire at Abergavenny by Andrew Symonds, then an Anglo-Australian, who was spending the summer with the West Country side deciding whether to qualify for England or Australia. In the first innings, he made a majestic 254 and, in the process broke, the world record for the most sixes in a first-class innings, striking 16 maximums to break the all-time record held by Warwickshire’s Jim Stewart. Just for good measure, he added four more in the second innings to take his match tally to 20 whilst almost unnoticed, Javagal Srinath completed a match return of 13/150.
Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
But at the charming ground, regarded as a bowler’s graveyard, the Indian could not prevent David Hemp from making 157 and Matthew Maynard 164 as Glamorgan set Gloucestershire a final day target of 345 from 77 overs. After Symonds early sixes, the West Country side fell away and it was left to their last pair to survive the final 20 balls to prevent Glamorgan from securing a remarkable victory after Symonds’ earlier onslaught.
From a wider perspective, one of the most important events in the Club’s history during the 20th century came during November 1995 as they acquired for £2.5 million a new 125-year lease of the Sophia Gardens ground which had previously belonged to Cardiff Athletic Club. After guarantees were made about still playing at St. Helens, work began planning the development of the ground as a centre of excellence for Welsh cricket, with the Club’s £4.5 million plans including an Indoor School, plus nursery and practice facilities, together with new grandstands and enclosures. A new dawn for Glamorgan CCC seemed around the corner.
