Glamorgan County Cricket Club started their 2005 season as defending totesport League champions, but the 2005 season ended without a trophy – instead, they suffered relegation in the first-class form. They played their first-class cricket in the First Division of the County Championship. They started the Championship season at 25–1 to win, and favourites to be relegated – which they eventually were, winning one of 16 games in the Championship season to finish bottom – nearly 100 points behind the first team to avoid relegation. By the end of August, they had confirmed relegation with three games remaining. In the National League, they hovered around mid-table for most of the season, before a run of three unbeaten games at the end of August sent them out of the relegation zone, and they finished the season in fourth place. In the C&G Trophy, they were knocked out at the second round stage by eventual champions Hampshire, while the Twenty20 campaign saw them finish bottom of their group with two wins from eight matches.
Glamorgan played 17 first class games in 2005, winning one, drawing two and losing 14. Their 18 List A matches gave seven wins, seven losses and four no-results, while eight Twenty20 matches ended with two wins, five losses and one no-result.
Squad No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt. denotes players with international caps. denotes a player who has been awarded a county cap. Ages given as of the first day of the County Championship season, 13 April 2005. No. Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Notes Batsmen Dan Cherry Left-handed Right arm medium Matthew Elliott Left-handed Left arm medium Sourav Ganguly Left-handed Right arm medium Richard Grant Right-handed Right arm medium David Hemp Left-handed Right arm medium Jonathan Hughes Right-handed Right arm medium Matthew Maynard Right-handed Right arm medium Mike O'Shea Right-handed Right arm medium-fast Mike Powell Right-handed Right arm off break Gareth Rees Left-handed Left arm medium Ian Thomas Left-handed Right arm off break Ben Wright Right-handed Right arm medium-fast All-rounders Robert Croft Right-handed Right arm off break Club captain Adrian Dale Right-handed Right arm medium Ryan Watkins Left-handed Right arm medium Wicket-keepers Adrian Shaw Right-handed — Mark Wallace Left-handed — Bowlers Dean Cosker Right-handed Slow left arm orthodox Andrew Davies Left-handed Right arm medium Adam Harrison Right-handed Right arm medium David Harrison Right-handed Right arm fast-medium 19 Simon Jones Left-handed Right arm fast Michael Kasprowicz Right-handed Right arm fast Darren Thomas Left-handed Right arm fast-medium Alex Wharf Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
County Championship Standings + 2005 County Championship – Division One Pos Team Pld W D L Pen BP Pts 1 Nottinghamshire (C) 16 9 4 3 0 94 236 2 Hampshire 16 9 4 3 0.5 92 233.5 3 Sussex 16 7 6 3 0 102 224 4 Warwickshire 16 8 3 5 0.5 86 209.5 5 Kent 16 6 7 3 8.5 99 202.5 6 Middlesex 16 4 7 5 0.5 98 181.5 7 Surrey (R) 16 4 9 3 8.5 97 180.5 8 Gloucestershire (R) 16 1 5 10 2 72 104 9 Glamorgan (R) 16 1 1 14 0 71 88.5
Matches Warwickshire v Glamorgan (13–16 April)
Glamorgan won the toss at a cold Edgbaston and chose to bat. The pitch had been roughed up to encourage turn for the benefit of Ashley Giles. The England selectors would have been pleased that he made the most of it, taking 6/44, the third-best figures of his first-class career to date. Earlier in that innings, however, Matthew Elliott, Glamorgan's Australian batsman scored 84 to take his team to a comfortable looking 157/3. However, Glamorgan then lost their final seven wickets for 41 runs. Warwickshire held five catches to restrict their opposition to 198, two short of their first bonus point. Nick Knight and Mark Wagh then saw Warwickshire through to 68 for no loss, before bad light stopped play.
After losing Knight and Wagh with only 4 added to the overnight score, the title holders showed their class. After the start of the day, the pitch calmed down, and England hopeful Ian Bell, who scored 96, and Mike Powell put on 153 for the fourth wicket. Dougie Brown then helped himself to a half-century being unbeaten on 85 at close, with Powell on 144 not out and Warwickshire on 415/4, 217 ahead. Alex Wharf and Simon Jones bowled enthusiastically, but without much to show for it.
On a cold third day, runs came at around five an over, though this was aided by the short boundaries. This allowed 362 runs to be scored, even though almost all the third session was lost to bad light. In the first session of the third day, Warwickshire's runs flowed freely. Although Powell only added 2, Brown moved on to 122, and Heath Streak had time to score 41 not out before Warwickshire declared on 564/8, 366 ahead. Elliott and David Hemp put on 162 for the second wicket. However, Matthew Maynard went for a duck, leaving Glamorgan on 213/4 at close.
On the fourth day, Robert Croft and Darren Thomas held Warwickshire briefly at bay with a partnership of 75, but this was not enough as Glamorgan succumbed for 323. Warwickshire captain, Nick Knight, said, "Once they were bowled out for 198 on that pitch they were always going to struggle. They then put down three catches, which proved to be decisive. We had a bit of luck so we are not going to start going around saying that we are going to win the Championship just because we have won one match." John Derrick, Glamorgan's coach, said, "Although we batted much better second time around, we made it difficult for ourselves by not scoring enough first innings runs. Warwickshire showed what playing pressure cricket is all about. They bowled with a lot of discipline. They piled up a big score to make sure that we didn't get back into the game."
Glamorgan v Surrey (27–30 April)
Glamorgan batted first at Cardiff, coming out finally at 2:30 p.m. as rain delayed the start. Matthew Elliott was then dismissed first ball. However, Mark Wallace performed better, adding 86 from 107 balls to still be there at the close of play. Surrey probably had the best of the day, which ended with the Dragons on 238/9. However, it could have been a lot worse for Glamorgan, as David Hemp was dropped three times. Mohammad Akram got good rewards for his bowling, taking four wickets.
Glamorgan picked up 12 more runs on day two to finish on 250. Then, on another rain affected day, Mark Ramprakash, Surrey's stand-in captain, became the second active player to pass 25,000 first-class runs. He finished the day on 72 not out. The second day ended with Surrey on 162/4.
Ramprakash completed his century on the third day, but only Rikki Clarke (35) could add more than 20 runs, and Surrey were bowled out for 248. Surrey had a two-run deficit to catch up with, but they did it, mainly thanks to James Ormond. Ormond swung his way to 7/63, helping Surrey on their way to victory. Ormond reduced Glamorgan to 15/2 by lunch and 87/7 in the 19th over. Glamorgan's last three partnerships added 86, but the target was still lower than Surrey's first-innings score, with 176. Surrey hit at nearly five runs an over as they approached their target and were 122/4 off 26 overs at close, Ramprakash on 49.
Surrey took under 35 minutes to wrap up victory, and they only lost one wicket in the 10 overs it took. Ramprakash again was the mainstay of the innings and was not out for 68 when the winning runs came.
Glamorgan v Gloucestershire (6–9 May)
Gloucestershire batted first at Cardiff and made runs at a rate of nearly four an over on their way to their only win of the 2005 season. With the top four all making more than 25 runs and the three first partnerships all accounting for more than fifty runs, Chris Taylor hit his way to 176 off 185 balls with four sixes, hitting 76 runs with the last 43 balls he faced. By the close of play, Gloucestershire were 439/8, with Upul Chandana just dismissed by Robert Croft. England ODI bowler Alex Wharf did the brunt of the bowling effort with 30.1 overs, getting Taylor out eventually, and finishing with 3/127 as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 466 early on the second day.
Matthew Elliott and Ian Thomas started the reply well for the hosts Glamorgan, putting on 40 for the first wicket before Thomas departed, but the Gloucestershire seamers Jon Lewis and Alex Gidman shared out wickets to reduce Glamorgan to 48/4. Double-digit contributions from the lower order, led by wicket-keeper Mark Wallace, who made a half-century, lifted Glamorgan to a total of 239 – still 237 behind Wallace. Following on, Glamorgan batted for nearly 25 overs before losing their first wicket – Ian Thomas – and stumps were drawn when that happened, leaving Glamorgan on 93/1.
The third day, however, was the day of the spinners. After Matt Elliott (123), David Hemp (57) and Mike Powell (39) took Glamorgan to 274/2 and a lead of 47, Sri Lankan leg-spinner Chandana and all-rounder Ian Fisher shared the last eight wickets between them for 71 runs, Chandana finishing with 5/117 and Fisher with 4/89, and resulting in a target of 119 for Gloucestershire to win. Glamorgan's spinners also took wickets, Dean Cosker and Robert Croft grabbing three as Gloucestershire to 59/3 at close on day 3, but on the morning of day 4, Gloucestershire batsman Tim Hancock – in his 15th season with the team – guided the visitors to the target with an unbeaten 41.
Surrey v Glamorgan (11–14 May)
Glamorgan went down to their fourth successive defeat, this time to Surrey, who had been defeated by Nottinghamshire in their previous game. At The Oval, there was a short boundary towards Harleyford Road, over which Scott Newman (117) and Ali Brown (122) hit plenty of runs to take Surrey to 441/7 on the first day. They lost their final three wickets on the second day for three more runs. However, 444 was enough to get a first-innings lead, as Glamorgan were dismissed for 345 with Martin Bicknell taking 6/74. The last three Glamorgan partnerships added 154 runs, with No. 9 David Harrison top-scoring with 75 not out. Surrey were in to bat again before the second day ended, and were 66 for no loss at stumps, with 855 runs hit in two days.
On the third day, Newman (219) became the first man to make both a century and a double century in a game for Surrey as they finally declared on 425/4, leaving a theoretical target of 525. Bicknell then took his 1,000th wicket for Surrey as Glamorgan batted to 177/2 at close, with David Hemp and Mike Powell on 77 and 80 not out respectively. However, one session was enough to finish off Glamorgan, with Rikki Clarke and Mohammad Akram getting reverse swing to take 3 and 4 wickets respectively, as Glamorgan were reduced to 248 all out. Their last seven wickets fell for 28 runs.
Hampshire v Glamorgan (20–23 May)