Doing a bit of post Christmas clearing up earlier this week I came across the scorecard for a trip I made in September for the match in Cardiff between Glamorgan and Hampshire which enabled me to complete the 'full set' for these two counties, a trip I reported on in a posting 'Away in Wales'. As I type, the morning in the Lower Ure Valley is dark and windy and the sunshine of those late season days seem a long way off.
Checking through my records I note that I first saw Glamorgan in action in 1991 when, within the space of a few weeks they were at Maidstone and Edgbaston. So a journey that began by the Medway ended by the Taff, twenty three years and fourteen grounds, stretching from Scarborough to Taunton, later. Of those grounds, only one, Abergavenny, is still not in regular use for first class cricket, although the purist might say that Sophia Gardens, where I saw Glamorgan's batting pulverise a weak Durham attack on a scorching hot day in 1995, is so far removed from today's stadium that they can't be considered as one.
My memory of my day at Avenue Road Abergavenny is constantly refreshed by a print on the wall at home of a painting of the ground by former Sussex and Durham wicketkeeper Martin Speight, painted by a nice coincidence from a spot close to where I spent a day in the sun. An unusual incident occurred when, after just two overs on the first morning the umpires, Messrs Burgess and Clarkson, took the players from the field whilst the ground staff realigned the stumps which had been pitched four inches out of line. A knock by Kevin Curran for Northants dominated the first day and Steve James hit centuries in both innings for Glamorgan. Glamorgan went on to win the championship with Kent runners up. How long before that can be written again? Another memory of that excursion is of agreeing to share the bill in an Indian restaurant that evening with a man at least twice my weight. As a general rule people don't reach 24 stone by going light on the poppadoms, or anything else for that matter.
Pcws may well be aware of major changes being planned to the structure of league cricket in Yorkshire. Despite trawling through several websites nowhere can I find a definitive account of the reforms that does not leave some questions unanswered. What I do know is that at a meeting last month the Bradford League Clubs have voted 20 to 1 to seek ECB Premier League status, one of four such leagues to be at the apex of the proposed pyramid. The proposals also involve the regionalisation of the current ECB league on a north south basis. In the north, York, YCCC Academy, Harrogate, Scarborough, Driffield, Hull and Castleford will be joined by the top five clubs from the York and District League with promotion and relegation in subsequent seasons. More when I have a clearer picture.
Happy New Year.
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