What on earth is happening at Sophia Gardens?

This week has seen a huge off-season shake-up of Glamorgan County Cricket Club. First we heard the shocking news of Jamie Dalrymple’s sacking as captain and the instalment of South African opener Alviro Petersen as captain. It then turns out that this decision was taken against the wishes of Director of Cricket Matthew Maynard, who then resigned, and against the wishes of the President Peter Walker, who also resigned. Subsequently Jamie Dalrymple left the club as a player. In the space of a few days three of the key players within the Glamorgan set-up have walked away from the club.

So what on earth is going on at Sophia Gardens?

All this comes after what was a good season, even if the end result was hugely frustrating for fans and those involved at Glamorgan. As noted here, Glamorgan lost out on the final day of the season to Worcestershire, but the turnaround in fortunes at the county showed that the long tried policy of nurturing and developing talented younger players was starting to bear fruit. Under Dalrymple’s leadership the team had become cannier and smarter in their play, if maybe not quite ruthless enough.

The apparent aim of bringing in Petersen and new head of cricket Colin Metson is to improve the one-day performances. Admittedly the one-day form last year was fairly bad (I witnessed the shellacking we received at the Oval from Rory Hamilton-Brown and Mark Ramprakash in the Pro40) and that is where the money is in cricket. But one of the lesser-acknowledged truths of cricket is that good four-day/Test sides and players can adapt their game to the shortened form a lot better than good one-day sides can adapt to the longer form. In terms of development for the players overall it is far more important for them to be playing in Division 1 of the County Championship than having a run in the Twenty20 competitions.

The obvious fear now is that a mass exodus will follow. Australian batsman and star player last year Mark Cosgrove looks like he won’t be coming back and it would be no surprise if Thom Maynard left after the shoddy treatment that his father received. Graham Wagg and Jim Allenby were clearly Maynard and Dalrymple inspired signings and may be looking for a sharp exit over the winter. If Allenby leaves it will make a mockery of the stated one-day ambitions as he is exactly the sort of player that thrives in the one-day game and that was a reason for bringing him in. Likewise Cosgrove who is a devastating one-day batsman with a very high strike-rate. Certainly prospective players will look at the goings on at the county and think twice about signing.

I think the seriousness of the situation was summed up by Jonathan Agnew, who yesterday tweeted “Can I just say, if Peter Walker resigns from anything, there is a serious problem...let alone from the club that he loves. Suggest Glamorgan CCC takes a step back”. Which is a damning indictment of the situation at the club.

If Glamorgan had had an awful season this year, as they have for at least three out of the last five years, then you could understand the need for a radical shake up of the leadership on and off the pitch. But to radically change things just as the team is developing into what could be a good one seems, at it’s worst, like mindless vandalism and at its best like tinkering for the sake. Glamorgan appear to be shooting themselves in the foot and Chairman Paul Russell hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory at the way it has all been handled.

Pears on my Pillow

Instant reaction: The entire county of Worcestershire can fuck right off. Apologies for that outburst.

The end of the cricket season has come, and with it a thrilling conclusion to the County Championship, still the most important domestic cricket competition in the UK. Well done to Nottinghamshire for pipping Somerset right at the end, you can’t help but feel a little sorry for Somerset, but Nottinghamshire constructed the way they did it in a superb way and just by the skin of their teeth. Read here for an astoundingly well summarised and commented on piece that evolved during the day. An example of online interactive journalism at its best, for which cricket is amazingly well suited.

While all this exciting stuff was going on in the First Division, I was feverish about the climax to the Second Division and in the end had to (unsuccessfully) bottle my rage at the final denouement. Glamorgan, despite being in the promotion spots all the way through the season, managed to lose out on the last day of the last round to Worcestershire, who secured second place and promotion by beating divisional champions Sussex on the final day. I have to admit that is quite an achievement for Worcestershire, who lost many of their best players before the season started and looked like they would struggle to do anything this year.

The last four days had been incredibly frustrating, with all matches affected by rain, one of the perils of having the end of the season in the middle of September. In the end this created a host of strange results and manufactured games, where sides tried to forge results out of what could have been stultifying 2 innings and a bit affairs. While this is necessary, it can be massively annoying for the supporters of a team who end up losing out because of this. Sussex effectively surrendered their game to Worcestershire, leaving Glamorgan needing a win. Sussex had declared on 264-4 with Worcestershire bowling all of their players bar the wicketkeeper in an effort to up the total and get a declaration. Sussex left what could have been a decent target of just over 300 if it hadn’t been for the gentle approach they took to bowling. Despite a couple of early wickets, Sussex took the foot off and allowed an unbroken 200 plus partnership between Moeen Ali and James Cameron (his maiden century) to build up, handing the win to Worcestershire with a fair amount of time left.

Glamorgan gave it a go, recovering from a shocking batting performance in the 1st innings (reeling at 66-6) to recover to 166, bowling out bottom side Derbyshire for 276 and posting a quickfire 269-3 off 33 overs in an effort to force a result by just about having enough time to potentially bowl them out. It very nearly came off, with Derbyshire at one stage 48-4, but there was not enough time and Glamorgan missed half chances that could have twisted the screw and ended up swinging the day back to Wales.

All so thrilling, but the reality is that Glamorgan should have sewn this up last week and should’ve been playing out a draw in front of their fans while celebrating a return to the top division for the first time in many years. My outbursts upon the close of play were as much annoyance at contrived results as frustration at Glamorgan’s inability to wrap it up earlier. A profligate end to the season meant that chances were missed. Promotion would have been great step up for a young and developing side. Guys like James Harris have been outstanding, the signing of Jim Allenby has been crucial for eking out wickets and getting late middle order runs. Mark Cosgrove, despite being an orca, is a formidable batsman capable of destroying bowling attacks. Gareth Rees has been a stalwart again. Thom Maynard has started to look more in control at the crease though is still too erratic. Crofty is still playing and passed notable landmarks this year. I could go on, but suffice to say this has the makings of a good side, and one that deserved to be promoted. Unfortunately this was not to be.

The way that it has been snatched away after being in our grasp for so long is tough to take, as are the machinations that occurred in other games to conjure up the conclusions that came. So, what can we learn from this? The main thing is that if you want to be promoted you have to be ruthless to the end. This year we didn’t kill off teams when we should have to get the points needed. That’s also what happened last year when Glamorgan just missed out. Clearly there needs to be more of hard edge and mental toughness to Glamorgan’s game before they can step up.

Also, we’ve learnt that pear cider will, for a while at least, be a very bitter drink and best avoided.