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April 29, 2008
Journalists get on their bike
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in Miscellaneous
How do you get from the Brit Oval to Lord's without crossing the Thames? Six intrepid cyclists are about to prove it can be done and all in a good cause.
They are cycling from Kennington to St John's Wood the long way round, taking in all 18 first-class county headquarters - a trip of more than 1,000 miles over 16 days.
The tour has been devised by two cricket writers who spend most of their time pedalling opinions on the game: David Lloyd of the London Evening Standard and Colin Bateman of the Daily Express.
Continue reading "Journalists get on their bike"
March 21, 2008
Glamorgan report healthy profit
Posted on 03/21/2008 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan have entered the black for the first time in nine years, reporting a profit of £14,688.
"We're delighted that after such a difficult summer, with the stadium under construction and the appalling weather affecting the Twenty20 matches, we've managed to return an operating profit of £268,500," Mike Fatkin, the club's chief executive, said. "Having recently announced major sponsorship agreements with SWALEC, The Really Welsh Company, Paramount Office Interiors and others, we're seeing an increase in sponsorship income from £90,000 back in 2005, to a projected £1.1million in 2008. We have recruited several players from other counties and I know the players and our supporters are looking forward to the 2008 season with a real sense of anticipation."
March 7, 2008
Cancer Tests for England cricketers
Posted on 03/07/2008 in Miscellaneous
All first-class cricketers in England will be tested for skin cancer this season. In an initiative by the Professional Cricketers Association about 400 players will have checks for the disease.
January 3, 2008
Wasim wants Glamorgan job
Posted on 01/03/2008 in Glamorgan
Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan fast bowler, has expressed his interest in becoming Glamorgan's bowling coach in the future.
"I've still got a house in England and although I haven't coached before it's something I definitely want to do whether that's now, in a few months, or maybe in a few years.
"In the future I would also be interested in doing some coaching with England's fast bowlers because they have got the potential to improve and I like living in the UK.
"I've got years of experience and I want to give something back."
Read the full story at the South Wales Argus
November 11, 2007
Harris on Young Sports Personality shortlist
Posted on 11/11/2007 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan's James Harris is on the shortlist for the BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year – but the BBC isn't tipping any of the senior England side for the main prize.
Harris, the fast bowler, is on the ten-player shortlist for the junior award to be announced on 9 December, but no cricketer rates a mention in the long-list of 17 athletes the BBC believe are the favourites for the senior title. This is a far cry from two years ago, when Andrew Flintoff won the title, and even last year Monty Panesar was in the top ten.
Continue reading "Harris on Young Sports Personality shortlist"
September 19, 2007
Time for salary caps?
Posted on 09/19/2007 in
A fascinating report in The Guardian looks into how county cricket pays for itself… if it does… and whether or not salary capping is a good idea.
September 6, 2007
Glamorgan opens its doors to Aussies
Posted on 09/06/2007 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan’s Sophia Gardens have been chosen to be the Wallaby Embassy during this year's rugby World Cup.
The Australia-Wales Pool Match on September 15 is set to be the most important match for both teams in the competition, so the cricket club are hoping the Wallaby Embassy - located in the National Cricket Centre - will be a popular event.
The Wallaby Embassy is free to attend, with doors open to all from 11am until 11pm. Visitors can watch the game on large viewing screens inside the cricket centre, while music will be provided by an Australian guitarist and a special Welsh guest singer.
July 23, 2007
Some county players earn less than minimum wage
Posted on 07/23/2007 in Miscellaneous
In The Sunday Telegraph , Steve James highlights the disparity between the high earners in English cricket and those at the bottom of the food chain.
The Professional Cricketers' Association estimates that a cricketer works about 50 hours a week (including play, travel, training and time spent away from home). This means, in broad terms, that a player needs to earn more than £7,000 per season to be over the minimum wage. There are definitely players earning less than that; indeed there are players earning as little as £3,000 per season.
June 19, 2007
Powell out for a fortnight
Posted on 06/19/2007 in Glamorgan
Mike Powell will have surgery to remove part of a bone which has caused a blood clot under his collarbone. He has been out of action since early June when his left arm became inflamed because of the problem. He will have to rest for a fortnight after the operation.
March 30, 2007
Elliott joins Glamorgan for a month
Posted on 03/30/2007 in Glamorgan
Matthew Elliott will join Glamorgan for the first month of the season. He was originally due to play for Yorkshire during the same period, but Pakistan's early elimination from the World Cup means that Younis Khan is now available for Yorkshire for the entire season.
Elliott previously played for Glamorgan in 2000 and 2005 and was only prevented from a further season in 2006 by a recurrence of a knee injury. Jimmy Maher will be available for the remainder of the season.
"This opportunity has only come up very recently because my agreement with Yorkshire fell through," said Elliott, "but I was really keen to play county cricket for that first month of the season and, knowing that Jimmy wasn't due to come over to Wales until mid-May, I floated the idea and was delighted that the club agreed. I think people know of my affections for Glamorgan and for Wales, and I'm really looking forward to linking up with the players and getting the season off to a positive start for when Jimmy arrives."
December 11, 2006
Cricket at Cresselly
Posted on 12/11/2006 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan have confirmed that their ECB Trophy match against Surrey on Bank Holiday Monday, May 28, will be played at Cresselly in Pembrokeshire.
"We are delighted to be able to fly the flag for cricket in Wales by taking the Surrey match to Pembrokeshire, and in particular to Cresselly, who in previous years have hosted several highly successful Benefit matches,” Mike Fatkin, the Glamorgan chief executive said. “They are also the home club of our opening batsman Dan Cherry, and we hope that other Pembrokeshire players can follow in Dan`s footsteps in years to come."
Glyn Cole, the Cresselly chairman, was understandably pleased with the news. "Cresselly is honoured to host this prestigious fixture," he said. "For the first time on a Pembrokeshire ground the cricketing community can view professionals from two first-class counties playing against each other in a competitive contest. This game is a huge boost to cricket in Pembrokeshire and we look forward with eager anticipation to welcoming Glamorgan and Surrey to our ground."
This will be the first time that Cresselly will stage a major one-day game, but it isn't first time Glamorgan have played at Pembrokeshire, or at the club, which is situated north west of Tenby and Saundersfoot. Since the late 1940s. the county have played annual friendlies against Pembrokeshire and, in 1991, Cresselly staged a one-day match.
October 17, 2006
That sinking feeling and debt to boot
Posted on 10/17/2006 in Glamorgan
As soon as Robert Croft inserted Essex in the first Championship game and watched them rack up 639 for 8 declared, one sensed it was not going to be Glamorgan’s season. And eventually Croft himself was forced to agree. After two seasons, in which he oversaw 21 defeats in 31 Championship matches, he quit a fortnight before the end. Croft had little choice but to fall on his bat handle. Despite a good season personally – 66 Championship wickets – he had come as far as he could with a young, inexperienced side. He was not helped by a back injury to Nicky Peng, the club’s only closeseason signing, which meant he missed half the summer, or the loss of both first-choice overseas players before the start of the season. Croft’s successor David Hemp managed a last-gasp draw to ensure Glamorgan would not finish bottom of the Championship. But he could not prevent slipping ineptly out of top flight of the one-day league. The situation looks likely to get more dismal, with no overseas players next season. The costcutting measure comes as the club faces up to severe financial problems; since 1998 £1.3m in interest has been paid on a loan taken out to purchase Sophia Gardens. Overall verdict: dreadful.
Richard Thomas The Wisden Cricketer
September 28, 2006
Glamorgan set to sell ground name
Posted on 09/28/2006 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan are looking at the option of selling the naming rights to Sophia Gardens in order to boost their struggling finances.
The club have already said they won't be able to afford overseas players for the next two years and are having to plough large amounts of money into the ground redevelopment ahead of the Ashes Test in 2009.
Paul Russell, the Glamorgan chairman, told BBC Sport: "We believe that a deal could be worth up to £1.5m over 10 years.
"Given our finances it's vital to exploit that to the hilt, that's the whole point of the developments at the ground - to secure Glamorgan's future. Sophia Gardens could stay as part of the name, but that will be entirely up to the sponsors to decide."
September 19, 2006
Thomas moves on
Posted on 09/19/2006 in Glamorgan
Darren Thomas played a major part in a golden era for Glamorgan but at 31 he has left the club during his benefit year. A downturn in his bowling over the last two seasons – seven first-class appearances in 2005 and none this summer – meant the club had little option but to cut him adrift.
It is an unfortunate end for the seamer-cum-batsman, who took 504 first-class wickets and scored nearly 4,000 runs during 15 summers. After taking 5 for 80 as a 17-year-old on first-class debut Thomas contributed to Glamorgan’s 1997 Championship-winning team and two one-day titles. He holds several records. He has Glamorgan’s best one-day figures – 7 for 16 against Surrey at Swansea in 1998 – and the worst ever in county cricket – 9-0-108-3. He also has the best figures by an England A bowler: 8 for 50 against Zimbabwe A in Harare 1998-99.
"I have had a memorable time at Glamorgan,’’ says Thomas. ‘‘My only disappointment is the lack of opportunities over the last couple of years but I reckon I still have something to offer another county."
Richard Thomas, The Wisden Cricketer
September 3, 2006
Powell power
Posted on 09/03/2006 in Glamorgan
Michael Powell admitted mixed emotions after getting out on 299 against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham College, failing by an elusive single to become the county’s second triple centurion.
The only man to pass 300 for Glamorgan is Steve James, a good friend of Powell’s. And Powell admitted he was more focused on James’s 309 than getting to 300.
“I was thinking more about the record score and there are a few regrets that I did not go past him but, though I failed, I’m absolutely landed,’’ he says. “If you’d have given me 299 before the start of the match, I would have taken it.”
He added: “It appears that I am playing well but I have had a little bit of luck on the way and I have hit the ball better. The thing that is good in my game at the moment is my concentration.”
But Powell laughs off talk of an England call following his prolific form, which included another double-century in the previous Championship match against Essex. “I’m miles away, absolutely
miles away.”
The Wisden Cricketer, Richard Thomas
August 24, 2006
Wharf out for the season
Posted on 08/24/2006 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan have suffered another injury blow with the news that Alex Wharf is set to be ruled out for the rest of the season with a hip problem.
"It looks like I will be out for some time now and I'm gutted about that," he told the South Wales Echo. "I've struggled with a groin problem all season and I'm wondering now if that is due to this hip problem.
August 1, 2006
Smith pitches in
Posted on 08/01/2006 in Glamorgan
Sophia Gardens’ head groundsman Len Smith believes his pitch for the forthcoming England v Pakistan one-day international will finally shake off Cardiff’s reputation for
hopelessly benign surfaces. “People like Jonathan Agnew on Test Match Special still talk about ‘slow and low Cardiff’,” Smith says, “but the Test pitch produces very good carry.” He is talking about his beloved Pitch No. 9, earmarked for both the August 30 one-dayer and Cardiff’s first Test match, during the 2009 Ashes. “The negative comments about Cardiff hosting a Test have quite upset me. If the square is good enough, which it is, why shouldn’t it have a Test match?” Ultimately money talked when the ECB awarded Cardiff the Ashes game but Smith believes he played a part. “I just piped up and told them: ‘I’d absolutely love to produce a Test match pitch at Sophia Gardens.’ It wasn’t meant as a crawling remark. I meant it from the heart. Afterwards I did regret sounding off but I’d like to think it made an impression.”
Robert Thomas, The Wisden Cricketer
July 30, 2006
Players thrive on steep earning curve
Posted on 07/30/2006 in Derbyshire
Steve James, the former Glamorgan and England opener, has revealed that the average salary for a county player is around £40,000. Surrey top the pay league, with their players earning an average salary of £60,000, and that excludes the bumper earnings of their overseas recruits. Yorkshire are at the bottom of the pay league, with an average salary of £30,000.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, James's article has gone a long way to dispelling the belief that county cricketers are sports paupers. While they still might to be able to hold a candle to any footballers in the Premier League, their pay is not as bad as it once was.
Click here for the full story.
July 2, 2006
Wallace signs new contract
Posted on 07/02/2006 in Glamorgan
The Glamorgan wicketkeeper Mark Wallace has signed a new three-year deal to stay at the county until 2009. Wallace has represented England Under-19s and was selected for the ECB Academy in Australia in 2002/03.
June 20, 2006
Overseas double
Posted on 06/20/2006 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan’s foreign policy dominated events, in particular the battle of James Franklin’s wounded knee. The club thought they had lost the services of Franklin, a left-arm swing bowler, when a scan following New Zealand’s series in South Africa showed torn knee cartilage. A frantic search for a replacement ensued, until Franklin was told the knee was not as bad as first feared. After a week of fitness tests Glamorgan satisfied themselves that it would stand up to the rigours of a county season.
It meant they were able to field two overseas players for the first time in nearly a year. The second was Mark Cosgrove, a hard-hitting left-hander from South Australia and “the best 21-year-old I have ever seen” according to Robert Croft. However, Cosgrove will have to be replaced for six weeks in June and July while away with Australia A.
Though Glamorgan failed to win any of their opening four Championship matches they have looked much more competitive than in their hapless 2005 season.
Richard Thomas, The Wisden Cricketer
June 5, 2006
Glamorgan coach calls for C&G format to change
Posted on 06/05/2006 in Glamorgan
Following Glamorgan's defeat to Somerset yesterday, rendering their chances of advancing in the C&G Trophy obselete, their coach, John Derrick, has called for a change in the tournament's format.
"It doesn't make sense that there is just a final, we need semis and there's a case for quarters," said Derrick.
"You only have to lose a couple and have others rained off early on and your campaign is all but over.
"That means dead games which are no use to anyone. Hopefully the authorities will realise that there is a need for change next season."
June 2, 2006
Glamorgan sent back to the leagues
Posted on 06/02/2006 in Glamorgan
Following their two-day loss to Somerset, Glamorgan's players have been sent back to league cricket for practice:
"All the players will go back and play league cricket on Saturday, go back to their roots, go back to seeing what club cricket is all about," Robert Croft, the Glamorgan captain, said.
"They will spend time in the middle batting and bowling to find some form."
May 20, 2006
Glamorgan washout
Posted on 05/20/2006 in Glamorgan
For the second season running Glamorgan's first floodlit fixture of the season fell victim to the weather. No play was possible in the C&G clash against Middlesex at Sophia Gardens, with each side taking one point. Glamorgan will hope for better luck when they host their floodlit Twenty20 matches at the end of June.
May 9, 2006
Franklin pulls out of deal
Posted on 05/09/2006 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan have had a nightmare as far as overseas players goes this season and it continues to get worse. James Franklin, the New Zealand left-arm seamer, has pulled out of his deal after injuring his knee on the recent tour of South Africa.
They lost Matthew Elliott (knee) and Michael Kasprowicz (Australia recall) just before the season started and signed Mark Cosgrove as one replacment. Franklin would have bolstered the attack but a scan confirming a cartilage tear. He hadn't signed his contract with Glamorgan so the club are free to look for a replacement.
April 30, 2006
Over rate penalty for Glamorgan
Posted on 04/30/2006 in Glamorgan
If losing by an innings against Essex wasn't bad enough for Robert Croft and his Glamorgan team, they have also been docked half a point for their slow over rate. It won't have helped that they were fetching the ball from the boundary with great regularity.
April 12, 2006
Friendly abandoned
Posted on 04/12/2006 in Glamorgan
Continuous rain throughout the morning in Cardiff led to the abandonment of Glamorgan`s pre-season friendly against Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens on Wednesday, April 12.
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