2017 was a summer which Glamorgan reach Finals Day of the Twenty20 competition for the first time in thirteen years. It was though a season of sadness, with the death of former coach John Derrick during the Spring and then in August Glamorgan legend Don Shepherd passed away six days after his 90th birthday and shortly before Glamorgan’s visit to the T20 showcase at Edgbaston.
The journey to Finals Day was something of a roller-coaster ride with Glamorgan bouncing back from a run of poor form in red ball cricket plus a 22-run defeat at home in the opening game in the Nat West T20 Blast against Hampshire to register a stunning victory over the Sussex Sharks at Arundel Castle. As so often during 2017, Colin Ingram took centre-stage as the southpaw shattered the peace and quiet of one of the county circuit’s most delightful settings with a 46-ball hundred – the fastest on record for Glamorgan – with a volley of muscular drives and his trademark pick-ups over the legside boundary. For a while it looked as if Luke Wright might match the Springbok blow for blow, but his century was in vain as Glamorgan won by 18 runs.
A remarkable run-chase followed at Chelmsford after Glamorgan were set a what seemed a daunting target of 220, but Ingram oversaw a thrilling pursuit with the South African blasting nine massive sixes, chiefly over the short leg-side boundary, as he completed another century, from 50 balls, and his third in successive white-ball innings at the ground. With the frugal Mohammad Amir keeping Glamorgan in check during the 17th and 19th overs, the task was nine from the last six balls. Graham Wagg and Craig Meschede scampered a trio of singles from the first three deliveries from Paul Walter, before Meschede missed the fourth. He duly made amends by drilling the next to long-on for four before swatting the last delivery for six over point to seal a stunning victory.
Nine days later, another win at Bristol saw Glamorgan soar to the top of the table with a thoroughly professional victory over Gloucestershire with David Miller marking his Glamorgan debut with a high-class fifty, decorated with some savage drives and square-cuts, as he shared what proved to be a match-winning stand with Rudolph who anchored the innings with a fine half-century of his own. The Glamorgan attack then performed well with Ingram’s frugal leg-breaks and the parsimonious Hogan keeping the home batsmen in check.
Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
The Welsh county maintained their position on top of the table as the group stage reached a gripping conclusion which saw all bar one of the teams holding aspirations of a quarter-final place. A rain-affected game at Cardiff against Gloucestershire briefly saw the winning run come to a soggy end, but twenty-four hours later, Rudolph and his men showed their character by beating Surrey in front of a noisy and boisterous 24,000 crowd at The Kia Oval. Aneurin Donald completed another high-octane fifty, whilst Ingram played a delightful cameo with a trio of enormous sixes, before the visiting bowlers made early inroads into Surrey’s stellar line-up. Tom Curran launched a spirited fightback late in the innings but Hogan produced another ice-cool closing over to stifle Curran’s youthful exuberance.
A quarter-final place was clinched in a nerve-jangling victory at Taunton where the home side entered the last three overs needing just 22. But Marchant de Lange produced a fine spell of “death bowling”, as with his last twelve deliveries, he claimed two wickets, including that of Johan Myburgh, besides running out the hapless Jim Allenby and conceding just three scoring strokes as Somerset were beaten by one run.
Opposite – Marchant de Lange. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
Click here to read about Glamorgan’s quarter-final victory over the Leicestershire Foxes and their semi-final encounter against the Birmingham Bears on Finals Day at Edgbaston.
In the other white-ball competition, the Royal London One-Day Cup, Glamorgan won four out of their eight matches and under the old regulations would have secured a quarter-final by finishing in fourth place but under the new format, only the top three qualified for the knock-out stages. They were able to look back fondly on a one-run victory in a crackerjack of a contest with the Essex Eagles at Cardiff with Ingram giving another masterclass of one-day batting, with a brace of powerful blows for six over the mid-wicket boundary, and Hogan at his frugal best, to stifle the run-chase as the Welsh county won the game off the last ball.
There was also a thrilling run chase at The Ageas Bowl after being set a target of 333 by Hampshire. At the halfway stage Glamorgan were 113-3 but Ingram went into overdrive with a display of clinical hitting and with decent support from Kiran Carlson and Rudolph, Ingram feasted on an increasingly ragged Hampshire attack to complete a 70-ball hundred. Although he departed soon afterwards, Chris Cooke then played a brilliant cameo with a 24-ball fifty before ending the match with a ball to spare by pulling Reece Topley for another massive six over the leg-side boundary.
Ingram and Cooke also played a starring role in a dramatic Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Cardiff where the pair batted manfully throughout the final day to save the contest. Nevertheless, eight other games were lost and only three were won, as Glamorgan ended in 7th spot in the table during a summer which saw them lose inside five sessions to Gloucestershire at Cheltenham after 25 wickets had tumbled on a dramatic opening day at the College. Ground. The return match at Cardiff in September was an all-together different affair and saw Kiran Carlson make an imperious 191. Thery also came within a wicket of defeating Sussex at Colwyn Bay where the visitors last pair added 32 for the tenth wicket, before winning inside three days at Canterbury as the final match against Kent saw Michael Hogan crown another fine summer of seam bowling with a masterly ten-wicket haul.
On the international stage, 2017 saw Glamorgan yet again successfully stage a series of matches in the ICC Champions Trophy at Cardiff shortly after the Welsh city had hosted the UEFA Champions League final. Indeed, a national newspaper carried the banner headline proclaiming “Cardiff – a city of Champions” as Real Madrid beat Juventus at the Principality Stadium or, as it was re-named for the footie-fest, the National Stadium of Wales. 72 hours later Glamorgan played host to the first of three group games in the ICC Champions Trophy as England beat New Zealand. The latter then went down to another defeat on Welsh soil as Bangladesh’s Shakib-al-Hasan and Mahmuddullah guided their side to a stunning victory. The third group game saw Pakistan defeat Sri Lanka before returning to Cardiff for the semi-final with England, with Sarfraz Ahmed’s team completing a resounding eight-wicket victory.