Somewhere holed up in a desolate corner of the United Kingdom, plagued by silence and doubts about where it might have gone a bit wrong, is the man and/or woman tasked with producing a set of questions to challenge the minds of the young and not-so-beautiful. You know the stuff – how many men does it take to run a bath between Dundee and Swansea that equals the circumference of a spoon. But the thought of solving that particular conundrum pales into sad, sad significance when it comes to working out whether Glamorgan Dragons can gain promotion if x amount of batting bonus points and y amount of bowling bonus points will be enough.
But here we are, with the climax of the LVCC Division Two season proving to be oh-so tense. A win against Essex at the SWALEC would have significantly boosted the promotion aspirations of the Welsh club. The same is equally true if you reverse the scenario. An evenly-matched fixture was always leaning towards the hosts as the game wore on, but in the end it took a poor* umpire decision and a display of gamesmanship by the visitors to ensure the game ended in a draw; Dean Cosker with his first ever 10fer for the match. Presumably Bilal Shafayat was running on the pitch every five minutes. But the close nature of the league table didn’t immediately quash any lingering dreams.
And so to the penultimate four-day fixture of the season; at home again to promotion contenders Gloucestershire. It’s not much of a surprise that the round of fixtures had four promotion contenders playing against each other; although Derbyshire struck gold with bottom-of-the-league-and-a-bit-useless-this-year Middlesex. With a day more to recuperate after a Pro40 fixture against Lancashire, Glamorgan now go into the fourth day against Gloucestershire with a better idea of what is needed both by stumps on Saturday and the last fixture.
Essex now sit in the box seat with 174 points after scraping a victory against Northamptonshire, while Derbyshire’s inability to claw the final wicket against Middlesex sees them take on Essex in the final game with 13 points needed to make up the difference. As for the Dragons, a win is now essential against their visitors and the odds are in their favour. But much depends on when and if Jamie D (let me be your fantasy, or calm down dearest?) declares. The win would put the Dragons 10 points behind Essex with one to play. A draw will end the promotion dream. But at least JD can toast a hearty milestone for the season…
It’d be easy to blame the weather for the fact that Glamorgan don’t have as many wins as they ought to have. Which is why we will do exactly that. But in the meantime, why not toast Glamorgan’s maiden victory in the Pro40 against Freelancs-ers thanks to the crash bang wallop of Mark Cosgrove and intensely disciplined bowling from the Dragons’ attack; an attack without JD or Crofty, but with impressive youngsters Chris Ashling and Nick James.
Speaking of players, it’s a sad farewell to stalwart Alex Wharf through injury, and Mike O’Shea.
(* probably)
10-13 September @ SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff
Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division Two
Glamorgan 311 and 296
Essex 288 and 181-9
Match drawn
14 September @ SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff
Pro40 Division Two
Glamorgan 219 (39.1)
Lancashire 192 (37.4)
Glamorgan win by 27 runs
16-19 September @ SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff
Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division Two
Glamorgan 410 and 169-8
Gloucestershire 268
Day 3, Stumps
