The summer of 2000 saw the acquisition of Matthew Elliott, the left-handed batter from Australia with the new signing helping Glamorgan to record four successive victories in the revamped County Championship, now split into two divisions, besides a series of stirring wins in one-day games as the Welsh county made it through to the final of the Benson and Hedges Cup at Lord’s. 2000 also saw another record-breaking innings by Steve James at Colwyn Bay and ended with promotion into the first division of the County Championship, but such a glittering array of prizes – both collective and personal – had seemed unlikely as the players gathered at Sophia Gardens for their pre-season training and surveyed a damaged square at their Cardiff headquarters.
Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
During the previous Autumn, Cardiff and the Welsh Rugby Union had played host to the Rugby World Cup and, with the final being staged at the impressive Millennium Stadium, the cricket ground had been used as an area for a huge tented village where the competition’s sponsors could entertain their guests. As Len Smith, the Club’s Head Groundsman and his team started work preparing wickets for the forthcoming season, they found that the massive marquee had caused the grass to wither and despite precautions having been taken, it looked as if lasting damage had been caused to the Sophia Gardens pitch. However, it proved to be a bonus as old and crumbling soil was removed during an extensive remedial programme and the pitches were in pristine condition by the time Matthew Maynard and his team began their season in the resurrected zonal rounds of the Benson and Hedges Cup.
It began with a rain-affected contest against Gloucestershire, who were restricted to 148-6, before Robert Croft and Elliott launched the Welsh reply with the former proving his worth as a pinch-hitter and exploiting the fact that fielding restrictions were in operation during the first 15 overs. His elevation also meant that Steve James, as he had successfully done in 1997, dropped down to number six. James duly finished as Glamorgan’s top scorer as they won by three wickets with two balls in hand and proved the mantra of Duncan Fletcher that “one day matches are not won by the team that hits the most boundaries, but by the team that accumulates the most singles and two`s.”
The following day Glamorgan were defeated on a slow, green wicket at Worcester, before a mix of April showers and pulses of heavy rain caused the abandonment of the zonal games against Somerset and Warwickshire. But Glamorgan could still qualify for the quarter-final stage if they defeated Northamptonshire and further improved their net run rate. It was quite a proposition given the presence of the prolific Matthew Hayden in the Northants side and, after the Welsh side had posted 238-8, the Australian started to tuck into the Welsh bowling, sweeping Robert Croft for a mighty six high over deep square-leg. But he attempted one lusty blow too many as Croft gained his revenge, bowling the Australian with one of his 24-yard specialities which he had added to his armoury.
Following their 39-run victory and a place at the top of their group, Glamorgan secured a home quarter-final with Hampshire. After slipping to 31-3, Adrian Dale and Keith Newell oversaw a rescue mission and took their side to 182-6. It proved to be more than useful score as Steve Watkin and Parkin both bowled a superb spell with the new ball as Hampshire slumped to 15-5. With little width on offer, the visiting batsmen perished trying to force the pace rather than working the ball around. Parkin finished with figures of 8-4-16-3, whilst Watkin had the remarkable analysis of 7-5-3-2 as Glamorgan and their supporters toasted their success by 113 runs.
Their reward was a first semi-final in the competition for 12 years, and a home tie with Surrey. With ten international cricketers in their ranks, the visitors were the firm favourites, but once again Glamorgan turned the tables on their illustrious opponents with another confident all-round display, plus a memorable display of batting from Maynard. Persistent rain meant that play was delayed until 4 p.m., and then in the 24.1 overs that were possible, Glamorgan lost Croft and Elliott early, before Michael Powell and Maynard steadied the ship to take the side to 99-2 when play was called off for the day.
The surface proved to be a low and skiddy one, and not really suited to the bowling of the Surrey pace attack who preferred the bounce and pace of wickets at The Oval. Maynard and Powell duly resumed their partnership the following morning, and complemented each other so well, with Maynard unfurling some majestic shots off the back foot, whilst Powell pummelled deliveries off the front foot as the pair added 133 in 27 overs. Maynard’s reward was a chanceless 109 from 115 balls and, despite losing their last six wickets for 25 runs, Glamorgan made 251.
Opposite – Michael Powell. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
Once again Parkin made two early breakthroughs dismissing Ally Brown and Alex Tudor before Mark Butcher and Alec Stewart restored Surrey’s fortunes. However, on 32 Butcher fell to a superb stumping by Adrian Shaw off Croft’s spin bowling – a feat the Glamorgan wicket-keeper was to repeat a few days later in Glamorgan’s tourist match against the West Indians when Shaw stumped the illustrious Brian Lara. Alex Wharf, their new acquisition from Nottinghamshire after his sterling efforts the previous year at Colwyn Bay, then proved what a shrewd signing he had been as he ripped the heart out of Surrey’s middle-order by dismissing both the Hollioake brothers and England’s Graham Thorpe.
After yet another interruption for rain, Alec Stewart and his tail-enders mounted a late rally, but Parkin still had three overs up his sleeve and came back to finish things off. When Steve James held onto a lobbed drive from Martin Bicknell, Glamorgan had won by 32 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method, and their victory meant that, at long last, they had reached a final at Lord`s.
Click here to read about the match against Gloucestershire in the Benson and Hedges Cup Final at Lord’s in 2000.
Click here to read more about the 2000 season.