Dave Allen: 20 Years Of Glamorgan Away

The vagaries of the fixture list mean that we shall only meet Glamorgan once this season so, since we did not play them until 2010, we shall consider all the matches between the two sides every one of which has played at either of the two ‘headquarters’, the Rose/The Ageas Bowl or Cardiff. We have won nine and lost seven of our meetings while two failed to reach a conclusion.

We started with a seven wicket defeat in Wales, unable to defend our 114-9 while Glamorgan were led by James Allenby with 2-18 and 52 from 55 balls. We had our revenge in the return as Jimmy Adams scored 100*, still our highest innings against Glamorgan, 199 is still our largest total and 54 runs remains our largest runs victory in these matches (Danny Briggs 3-27). Later that year, at home again, we won the trophy with a victory over Somerset.

At the Rose Bowl In 2011 we won a low-scoring game by just two wickets with four balls to spare – Vince with 32 the only man on either side to reach 30; Briggs 4-24. Nine days later the return at Cardiff lasted just one over, after which we did not meet them again for three years although we did go to Cardiff in 2012 and won the trophy for the second and last time, beating Yorkshire.

At home in 2014 Michael Bates stumped both Glamorgan openers but most of their batters contributed to a total of 161-7 and we fell short of that by 10 runs despite an all-round contribution from Matt Coles with 42 and 2-30. In Cardiff we won an even closer game after half centuries from Carberry and Adams took us to 170-6. Needing 18 from the last two overs Glamorgan immediately lost Darren Sammy and fell six short of our total. In 2015 in Cardiff we recovered from 39-4 to post 148-8 (Ervine 49) with Graham Wagg taking 4-27 and following that with 27* - it was not enough as Chris Wood took 4-16, still our best bowling in these fixtures and we won by 21 runs.

They won by just two more than that in the return with their captain Jacques Rudolph opening with 77 and taking 2-8 (Berg 3-34, Carberry 70). Despite that defeat this was the last year of our continuous run from 2010 reaching Finals Day every season. By contrast 2016 was a struggle and we lost at Cardiff by five wickets with 23 balls to spare after Aneurin Donald scored 55 for the home side, although one of our three victories that year came at the The Ageas Bowl when we posted 167-6 and Glamorgan lost by 25 runs. The match was an all-round triumph for Liam Dawson with 76* and 4-23.

At Cardiff in 2017 Lewis McManus with 59 led us to 167-5, then Afridi (4-20) and Topley (3-23) bowled us to victory, while in the return we enjoyed an emphatic victory by 8 wickets – Crane 3-21, Vince 60*. We were back then at Finals day but as usual, since 2012, lost the first match. In 2018 we did not get close, winning just two of our 14 matches. In the season’s opener Glamorgan reached 168-6 and put us out for 105; it remains our lowest score against them and our heaviest defeat. We lost again at Cardiff unable to defend 151-8 as Glamorgan won by 8 wickets (Meschede 32 & 3-21). It was Glamorgan’s turn to record their lowest score in 2019 at the The Ageas Bowl as we defended 128-8, bowling them out for just 87 (15.3 overs) with three wickets each for Dawson and Crane. Glamorgan’s Lloyd was the top-scorer on either side with 25 with only he and McManus managing to clear the rope (once each). The Cardiff return was rather different with 13 sixes in Glamorgan’s 216-5 (their highest against us) as Chris Wood conceded 67 runs – still Hampshire’s highest. Northeast, now with Glamorgan was the match’s top-scorer with 60 but needing 61 from the last four overs we fell to 188-8.

The pandemic and a reorganised fixture list meant no meeting in 2020 and we had just one match with them last year at the The Ageas Bowl, although you will no doubt recall it was rather remarkable. After a slow start we came to the last fixture needing a decisive victory against Glamorgan at home to reach the quarter-finals. This seemed improbable as Marcus Labuschagne with 78 posted Glamorgan’s highest score against us while their 184-4 was their 2^nd highest in these fixtures. But the ‘Aussie’ then conceded 55 runs (4^th highest v Hants) and we won by 6 wickets in just 13 overs to go to a quarter-final at Trent Bridge. Our opening pair added 101 in 44 balls - Vince 39 from 21 and D’Arcy Short 69 from 30 with five sixes - then Joe Weatherley finished things with 43* from 13 balls with four sixes. Thrilling stuff!