Glam v Worcs – LVCC Head-to-Head at Cardiff

Worcestershire are Glamorgan’s next opponents in the LV=Insurance County Championship with the West Midlands side meeting the Welsh county at Sophia Gardens with the four-day contest at Cardiff scheduled to start at 10.30am on Monday, 5 September (writes Andrew Hignell).

Glamorgan return to red-ball action with their amazing innings victory at Grace Road during the remarkable and record-breaking contest against Leicestershire in late July parachuting the Welsh county up into third place in the Division Two table, just five points behind second place Middlesex, with the Welsh county also having a game in hand over the North London club.

They now meet Worcestershire who are currently in fifth place in the table with the Welsh county looking to follow-up their three-wicket victory in late June at New Road and thereby complete a home and away double against the West Midlands outfit – something they have achieved three times previously, in 1963, 1969 and 2010.

Glamorgan’s most recent victory in Championship cricket against Worcestershire at Cardiff came in 2013 when the Welsh county won by ten wickets in a contest which saw Mike Reed, claim 5/27 in the visitors first innings before Jim Allenby struck 78 before taking 4/27 to put Glamorgan into the ascendancy.

For Worcestershire, it will be their first visit to Cardiff for a Championship match since 2019 and a game which saw Marnus Labuschagne score a century in each innings whilst Brett D’Oliveira – now the visiting captain – scored a hundred as the game ended in a draw after Glamorgan had set the visitors a target of 326 in 66 overs.

Worcestershire were the victors by eight wickets at Cardiff in 2017 after Tom Kohler-Cadmore had scored a century and rookie seam bowler Josh Tongue had claimed 5/45. They might also have won in 2016 when D’Oliveira posted a maiden double-hundred to put Worcestershire into a dominant position, before rain washed out the last two days of the contest.

Sam Northeast, who is the leading run-scorer in the country – with 1,127 first-class runs to his name at an average of 75.13 – will also be looking to continue his outstanding form, having scored 515 runs since he was last dismissed in a Championship match.