Famous county matches at Sophia Gardens

© Glamorgan Cricket Archives

© Glamorgan Cricket Archives

In its relatively short history as a county cricket ground, Sophia Gardens has staged a number of notable games. On 5th September 1969, Glamorgan, watched by a crowd estimated at 16,000, defeated Worcestershire by 147 runs to win the County Championship, whilst in the Championship match in May 1990, Jimmy Cook hit 313* for Somerset against Glamorgan. In recent years, several Glamorgan batsmen have revelled on the excellent batting wicket, most notably in July 1993 when Viv Richards and Adrian Dale shared an unbeaten partnership of 425 for the fourth wicket in the match with Middlesex.

© Glamorgan Cricket Archives

In May 1971 tragedy nearly struck during the match with Warwickshire, as Roger Davis, the Glamorgan all-rounder, was hit directly on the temple by a legside stroke from Neal Abberley whilst fielding at short leg to the bowling of left-arm seamer Malcolm Nash. These were the days before helmets, and after being struck, Davis collapsed, stopped breathing and went into convulsions.

Fortunately, there was a doctor sitting in the Members Enclosure at the River End of the ground, and he ran onto the pitch to give Davis the kiss of life. The stricken player was taken by ambulance to the Cardiff Infirmary, where thankfully he made a full recovery, but for a few agonising minutes it looked as if Sophia Gardens would enter the history books for all the wrong reasons.

Several famous one-day games have also been staged at the Cardiff ground, including the Sunday League match in September 1976 when Somerset arrived, needing to win to secure their first ever title. A crowd of around 11,000 watched an evenly fought contest that culminated in a nail biting finish as Graham Burgess was run out off the final ball to leave Glamorgan the victors by one run.

On 6th July 1987 the Welsh county celebrated their Centenary Year by staging a match with Gloucestershire for the Severn Trophy in the presence of H.R.H. Prince Charles and Princess Diana, whilst the ground has also been the venue of Glamorgan`s recent Quarter and Semi-finals contests in the one day competitions, including the semi-final in the Benson and Hedges Cup in 2000 against Surrey, and the quarter-final of the 2004 Twenty20 Cup competition against Warwickshire - all watched by a crowd of around 10,000.

© Glamorgan Cricket Archives

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