Kent v Glamorgan (LV= CC)
History was made at the St Lawrence ground for Kent’s final home game two years ago when the first ever floodlit County Championship match was staged against Glamorgan. A home defeat followed a similar fate for the hop county as that at Cardiff earlier in that season.
Next to Durham, Glamorgan are the youngest County playing in the Championship, having been admitted in 1921. Since then, there have been 94 encounters between us, 49 at home and 45 away.
Of those matches, Kent have won 35, 32 have been drawn and our visitors have been victorious 27 times. Kent’s home matches against today’s opponents have been spread over 10 grounds in the
County with Canterbury hosting 18. Last year’s encounter at Cardiff, Kent’s final match of the season resulted in a defeat that finally shattered dreams of promotion. Earlier in the season the match at
Canterbury saw Brendan Nash and Darren Stevens both score centuries in a fifth wicket stand of 204 but as so often happened the game resulted in a frustrating rain-affected draw.
Recent matches have created and surpassed records. In the 2005 contest at Cardiff a number were established. Martin van Jaarsveld continued his sensational early season form with a not out 262 in a
Kent total of 568. That total was then a new record for Kent in matches against Glamorgan and
Martin’s score was the highest by a Kent batsman in matches between us until eclipsed by Rob Key’s undefeated 270 on the same ground four years ago. In the former match van Jaarsveld’s eighth wicket partnership with Min Patel of 159 and his tenth with Martin Saggers are the highest ever between the two counties. Further records were set on this ground in the 2005 return match and in
2009. Darren Stevens (208) and Andrew Hall (133) put on 267 for the sixth wicket in 2005, then four years later James Tredwell (59) and Wayne Parnell (90) added 151 for the seventh wicket. That was after Geraint Jones (133) and Martin van Jaarsveld (182) had added 309 for the third. That’s not quite the end: Rob Key’s 270 at Cardiff included a new record fifth wicket stand with Justin Kemp (90) and in the 2005 return match here at Canterbury a new record innings score of 587 for Kent was recorded.
It was on this ground in 1999 that Glamorgan achieved their highest total against us, with a score of
544. The highest aggregate of runs was 1382 at Abergavenny in 1994 when all 40 wickets fell. The lowest aggregate was at Gillingham in 1967 when only 437 runs were scored, once again with all 40 wickets going down. The highest single innings score in that matc h was Kent’s first innings 137.
Bowlers have dominated on occasions. The best innings return for Kent was David Halfyard’s 9-39 at
Neath in 1957 when the home county was dismissed for 89. The best for Glamorgan was Jim
Pressdee’s 8-61 at Dover in 1963. The best match analysis for Kent still stands with “Tich” Freeman who, on this ground in 1932 recorded 1384. Wilf Wooller’s 11-81 at Cardiff in 1953 remains
Glamorgan’s best. The outstanding career bowling returns for each of the counties are held by Derek
Underwood for Kent with 107 wickets and Don Shepherd for Glamorgan who took 96.