Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

125 cricketers over touring teams at St. Helen’s. But the 1980s and 1990s saw the gradual end of tourist matches in Swansea. The 1988 West Indians visited Swansea in mid-August, but this time there was not a limited overs contest in the schedule. Two years later, the Indians visited at the same time of the year, before the 1991 West Indians returned in mid-July for what has turned out to be their last visit to St. Helen’s with their itinerary in 2000 seeing the contest take place at Sophia Gardens. Indeed, the 1990s saw Glamorgan switch the tourist fixtures to the Cardiff ground as they took the first steps on the path towards creating a modern stadium. Sophia Gardens duly hosted Glamorgan’s matches against the 1997 Australians and 1998 Sri Lankans, whilst the 1999 ICC World Cup saw the Australians based in the Welsh capital. The tournament schedule saw Glamorgan take part in warm-up games against Australia and Kenya, before a group game in the competition between Australia and New Zealand which the Kiwi’s won thanks to some forthright batting by former Warwickshire batsman Roger Twose. This was the first one-day international at Glamorgan’s headquarters as the focus of international attention switched from west to east, with games against the 2000 West Indians and 2002 Sri Lankans taking place at Sophia Gardens. Pontypridd had also dipped their toe briefly in the waters, with financial backing from Mid-Glamorgan County Council, and latterly administrators within the Rhondda Cynon Taff authority seeing Ynysangharad Park host matches between Glamorgan and the South Africans in 1994, followed two years later by a match against the Pakistanis. Jeff Jones seen bowling at St. Helen’s during Glamorgan’s Championship match with Worcestershire in 1968. Alan Ormrod is the batsman, Eifion Jones the wicketkeeper, with Majid Khan and Roger Davis in the slips. International cricket comes to Swansea