There was some very good news emanating from Sophia Gardens over the winter months with confirmation that Glamorgan had signed Waqar Younis, the Pakistani pace bowler. To capture the services of one of the finest fast bowlers in international cricket at the time was a great coup for the Club and reflected well on the negotiating skills of their officials. “It’s possibly the best signing Glamorgan has ever made,” said a jubilant Matthew Maynard and so it proved as Waqar spearheaded the county’s attack as. for the third time in the history, they lifted the Championship title.
Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
The arrival of Waqar ahead of the 1997 season meant there was a great buzz around the Club as the pre-season preparations began with the knowledge that they had a world-class bowler spearheading their attack giving the squad a huge lift. However, he missed the opening game with a foot injury so it was another pace bowler who struck the first blow, quite literally, as Allan Donald, the South African paceman, hit Hugh Morris a nasty blow on his helmet during Glamorgan`s opening Championship match against Warwickshire at Cardiff.
It came at the time when the left-hander was unbeaten on 233 with Glamorgan cruising towards a lead of 400 over Warwickshire and seemingly exorcising all of the bad memories that the visitors had caused in their previous visits to the Cardiff ground for one-day games. The doughty opener was carried off the field on a stretcher, and after an x-ray in hospital, he returned to the ground. His efforts though were all in vain, as rain intervened with ninety minutes play being possible over the final two days.
Nevertheless, the early signs were therefore very promising, both on and off the field, with Matthew Maynard having formed an effective partnership with new coach Duncan Fletcher who the previous summer had been the coach of the South African A side on their tour to the UK. Warwickshire also had expressed an interest in Fletcher`s services as a replacement for Bob Woolmer, but Glamorgan got in first with an offer to the quiet Zimbabwean and secured his services, with his shrewd advice and tactical nous, playing a major part in the events which unfolded.
Opposite – Duncan Fletcher. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
The new management team were able to toast their first Championship success of 1997 after a victory at Canterbury which saw spinners Robert Croft and Dean Cosker share a dozen Kent wickets. At the end of May, Glamorgan moved to the top of the table with a comprehensive victory over Durham, having posted a mammoth first innings total of 597-8 – at the time the Club`s highest – with the carnage starting with Steve James hitting a century before lunch and sharing an opening stand of 229 with Morris, who also confirmed his well-being by scoring a hundred. Maynard then applied the coup de grace with the third century of the innings, before Waqar and Steve Watkin shared fourteen wickets to see their side to an innings win.
But the Welsh county were then brought back down to earth with a jolt as firstly they lost to Oxford University – their first defeat to the students since 1930 – albeit with a young and inexperienced side under the captaincy of Tony Cottey, but not before Mike Powell, the 20 year old batsman from Abergavenny had scored a double hundred on his first-class debut.
Opposite – Michael Powell, seen at Oxford after his debut double-hundred in 1997. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
Five days later, Glamorgan were back in Championship action against Middlesex at Cardiff – it turned out to be an unusual game in many ways, especially as Glamorgan’s batting disintegrated after lunch on the third day as they were bowled out for 31 – with Jamie Hewitt taking career-best figures of 6/14. As Maynard later reflected, “it was a bit of a freak . Every ball that kept low was straight and got an l.b.w. whilst every ball that got a nick went straight to a hand. Yes, it was embarrassing to be rolled over for 31, but there was nothing we could have done to prevent it. There were a couple of players with their heads down afterwards. But I said to them they could walk out of the ground with their heads held high. You don`t become a bad side overnight, and there are unexplained things that just happen in cricket. That was one of them.”
Glamorgan swiftly put these disappointments behind them on the first day of their next Championship match at Liverpool. Their batters had made quite serene progress to 173-1, with Steve James unbeaten on 99, when rain forced the teams from the field, and no more play was possible until the morning session on the final day, as James remained marooned one short of his hundred for three days. He eventually got there on the Saturday morning, before some declaration bowling allowed Glamorgan to set Lancashire a target of 273 from 60 overs. In the space of just fourteen overs, Waqar and Watkin blew their resistance away, dismissing Lancashire for 51 with Waqar taking 7-25, including a hat-trick – the first by a Glamorgan bowler in the Championship for 29 years. In fact, he might have claimed a second later in the innings had a catch not been spilled.
Many consider that this game at Liverpool was the defining moment of the season as it showed that Glamorgan were genuine title contenders, and if anyone had any lingering doubts, they were quickly erased in the following home game, against Sussex at Swansea. On a damp pitch and in moist air, Glamorgan struggled at first, scoring 172, but in reply Sussex crumbled for 54 as Waqar took 8/17. James and Maynard then shared a partnership of 119 for the third wicket as the South coast side were left with a daunting target of 302. Batting for a second time, it was the turn of Darren Thomas and Robert Croft to wreak havoc in Sussex`s ranks, as the visitors subsided again for 67 with Thomas taking 5/24 and Croft 3/9 from eight overs.
Click here to read more about the 1997 season.