County Championship Preview: Glamorgan v Somerset
THE MATCH
Somerset travel to Sophia Gardens to take on Glamorgan in Division One of the Rothesay County Championship.
Day one of this fixture is tomorrow (Friday May 8th).
Tickets for this match are still available:
Somerset are currently third in the Division One table with 58 points from four matches whilst Glamorgan are fifth with 50 points from the same number of fixtures.
SCHEDULED HOURS OF PLAY:
Morning session: 11:00am to 1pm
Afternoon session: 1:40pm to 3:40pm
Evening session: 4pm to 6pm
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
You can keep up to date using the dedicated Match Centre on this website which will feature a live stream of the action courtesy of Glamorgan CCC.
In-play updates will also appear on our X feed (formerly Twitter).
In addition to this, a report on the day’s play along with quotes will be posted on this website.
THE OPPOSITION
Captain:Â Kiran Carlson
Head coach:Â Richard Dawson
2025 finish:Â 2nd (in Division Two, promoted)
2025 highest run-scorer:Â Colin Ingram (1,076)
2025 highest wicket-taker:Â Timm van der Gugten (34)
Key winter moves: It has been a quiet winter despite promotion. Sean Dickson joins from Somerset, albeit at the expense of captain Sam Northeast returning to Kent. Academy success in 2025 has seen rookie contracts given to two while James Harris’ retirement and the fact that Asitha Fernando is not returning leaves bowler-shaped holes. Colin Ingram is the only season-long overseas although Australian quicks Ryan Hadley and Nathan McAndrew will be there, for the first six, and for two matches in June respectively.
What can we expect?:Â Glamorgan are back in Division One for the first time since 2005, which is exciting on the surface. Then though, they had an England international as captain and another play a vital part in the Ashes win that summer; and yet they still recorded 14 losses from 16 games. Glamorgan will be hoping their top seven can offer stability, young though several may be, and be at the forefront of avoiding defeats if not picking up wins.
Aiming to catch Test selectors’ eye: Asa Tribe has overtaken Ben Kellaway as the most talked about Glamorgan youngster, but both have exceptional talent. The former had hundreds for Jersey at 19 and racked up 731 runs at 45.68 last season. Looking a traditional opening batter, he made a century on the England Lions’ tour to Australia and now has franchise recognition.
Final thought:Â Glamorgan have plenty to do to last more than one season in the top-flight this time round. More notable than on-field business, the club has kept the successful coaching combination of Richard Dawson and Ian Harvey, who also had success with Gloucestershire in 2015. To win first-class matches you need 20 wickets; with a shortage of seamers, leg-spinner Mason Crane should get more opportunities after claiming 23 scalps in just five red-ball games last year.
TEAM NEWS
Somerset are still without Tom Kohler-Cadmore (thumb), Tom Banton (finger) and Lewis Goldsworthy (hamstring), whilst Thomas Rew is also unavailable for this fixture. Jack Leach is included in the squad after missing the Yorkshire match with a neck strain.
The starting XI will be selected from the following squad:
VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Ahead of the match, Somerset Head Coach, Jason Kerr said: “It was a frustrating performance against Yorkshire. We did a lot of really good things but just not quite for long enough. That one hurt because we were in the ascendancy and didn’t get the result. We’ve had the opportunity to dust ourselves down and we’ve practiced well this week and we’re looking forward to going to Cardiff.
“I think what’s important is that we keep reinforcing how well we’ve been playing and what we’ve done really well which has allowed us to start the season so impressively.
“This is Division One. It’s proper cricket and as we’ve seen already there are no easy games. Glamorgan have had a comprehensive win down at Hampshire so they’ll be buoyed and confident from that, but we know how well we’re playing and I think it’s important that we just focus on that.”
CLASSIC MATCH
We go back in time to 1976 for the classic First Class match between the two sides at Sophia Gardens.
It was a relatively low-scoring affair which saw Somerset come out on top by five wickets thanks to a number of outstanding individual performances.
After winning the toss, Glamorgan Captain, Majid Khan elected to bat but his side slipped to 35 for seven. However, Eifion Jones (32) and Malcolm Nash (40) shared a stand of 66 to give the home side’s total an air of respectability but they were eventually dismissed for 134. Hallam Moseley claimed five for 20 whilst Ian Botham took four for 43 to put Somerset in charge.
However, by the close of the first day the visitors were also struggling with the scoreboard showing 76 for five.
On day two, Graham Burgess made a half century to help ensure that Somerset claimed a narrow first innings lead of 30.
Botham and Moseley both claimed another four wickets each, but 70 not out from Jones saw Glamorgan set Somerset a victory total of 244.
Somerset lost both Derek Taylor and Peter Denning with just six runs on the board, but a superb unbeaten century from Brian Rose (107) and 81 from Brian Close helped to see the visitors over the line.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
If you are planning to attend the match, all the information you need can be found on the official Glamorgan CCC Website.
NEXT MATCH
Somerset’s next match is in the Rothesay County Championship Division One when we take on Sussex at the Cooper Associates County Ground.
Day one of this four-day match is Friday May 15th.
