Review of the Season – 2005

The Sophia Gardens ground had already seen some remarkable one-day games involving Glamorgan, but events at Cardiff on 18 June 2005 were In an entirely different league. “Bangladesh produce the biggest shock in cricket history”, proclaimed one newspaper in Pakistan, whilst ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ and ‘The Melbourne Age’ both called it “the greatest shock in Australian sporting history, ” after Bangladesh recorded a famous victory in their One-Day International in the Welsh capital. It was certainly a turn up for the books, given that Bangladesh had only recorded three wins against Test-playing opposition in over a hundred one-day internationals.

Their astonishing victory was a huge fillip to Glamorgan Cricket and their international ambitions having, in late April, seen the formal switching-on of the permanent floodlights. During the summer further canvassing of support took place, as well as some changes to the plans which had been presented in 2004, especially relating to the pavilion complex at the Pontcanna End. The changes stemmed from conversations with Cardiff Council who were seeking a temporary home for the Cardiff Devils ice hockey team, whose current stadium in the centre of Cardiff was poised to be demolished as part of the St. David`s 2 development. An indoor arena was therefore added to the plans but after further consultation, the Council created a temporary ice facility in Cardiff Bay.

Whilst all this was taking place, Glamorgan endured a torrid time back in Division One, losing 14 of their 16 Championship matches as 2005, from a domestic perspective, became a summer to forget with Robert Croft’s team relegated back to Division Two. After the opening game against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, Matthew Maynard retired to become Duncan Fletcher’s right-hand man in England’s coaching set-up. Matthew Elliott’s season also ended early when he sustained a knee injury, whilst David Harrison also lost his nip having modified his action after a winter with the England coaches. When Michael Kasprowicz was also called up to the Australian party, they agreed a short-term deal with Sourav Ganguly, the then-Indian captain who was seeking an opportunity to return to form.

Shorn of these experienced pillars in both the batting and bowling departments, a quite inexperienced Glamorgan side took to the field. Some of the youngsters grabbed the opportunities with both hands, not least Dan Cherry who made a career-best 226 in the Championship match against Middlesex at Southgate as well as 166 at Bristol as Glamorgan ended their run of defeats by beating Gloucestershire.

The match at Southgate saw 1683 runs being scored, and a place in the Club’s record books for Cherry who, after seven and a quarter hours at the crease, posted the highest score for Glamorgan by an uncapped batsman. He also added 241 in 54 overs for the third wicket with Jonathan Hughes, before being caught by Ed Smith, his former Tonbridge School colleague, on the long-off boundary after hitting 32 fours and 2 sixes from 349 deliveries. Middlesex responded on the featherbed surface by declaring immediately after they had avoided the follow-on, with Glamorgan batting again as Jonny Hughes and Ganguly adding 190 in 39 overs, with Hughes recording his second century of the match.

In a bold quest to win the game, Croft set Middlesex a target of 406 in 80 overs, but after Ben Hutton had retired hurt, Smith and Owais Shah laid the foundations of what proved to be a successful run chase by taking the score to 234-0 at tea. By the time the pair departed, Middlesex`s target had been reduced to 118 in 22 overs, and Ed Joyce guided his side to their target with thirteen balls in hand.

Elsewhere on the batting front, Michael Powell – who the year before had been drafted in as cover into England’s one-day squad – struggled for consistency with David Hemp being the only batsman to score over 1,000 runs in Championship cricket. In the bowling department, Alex Wharf picked up a series of niggles whilst Darren Thomas lost form and confidence. In their absence, opportunities were given to Huw Waters, a product of Usk CC and Monmouth School ,as well as Adam Harrison, the younger brother of David, and during Glamorgan’s rain-affected County Championship match against Sussex at Swansea in June 2005, there was a Harrison bowling at each end, as they bowled in tandem for the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th overs of the visitor’s first innings.

Relegation back into Division Two of the Championship was accompanied by a one-day campaign which saw Glamorgan slip back to fourth place in the One-Day League whilst the T20 campaign saw Glamorgan finish at the bottom of their group table with just two victories to their name. In the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy, a facile victory over Suffolk at a gloomy Bury St. Edmunds – where the last batsman from the Minor County side, walked out with a torch attached to his helmet – was followed by a no-nonsense defeat by six wickets by Hampshire.

On the national stage, 2005 saw the success of the England side in the Ashes series against Australia with Simon Jones playing a major hand in a thrilling series with the Welshman being England’s leading wicket-taker in a series which gripped the nation and ended up, following a draw at The Oval, to the return of the Ashes to English soil and a remarkable series of celebrations in central London. During the series, the Swansea-born paceman bamboozled the Australian batsmen with a combination of raw pace and reverse swing, whilst during the Third Test at Old Trafford, he returned the best-ever bowling figures by a Glamorgan player in Test cricket for England as he claimed 6/53. Despite a niggling injury he played a hand in the nail-biting victory in the Fourth Test at Trent Bridge before sitting out the Final Test at The Oval as the historic urn made its way back to home shores.