Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
I should preface this message by saying that it will only be of interest to cricket nerds (particularly Glamorgan ones).
It's funny what I think of when walking my dog every morning. Today, cricket was the furthest thing from my mind when, suddenly, I thought "hang on, Glamorgan have won a Cup Final before!". My first thought when yesterday's match ended was that we'd finally won a cup to go with the league triumphs we'd managed and it's been reported everywhere that it was a first, but everyone is forgetting about the Tilcon Trophy!
I daresay there are some reading this who weren't able to forget the Tilcon Trophy because they'd never heard of it in the first place, but it was a mini tournament played in Harrogate every year featuring Yorkshire and three other invited counties which consisted of Semi Finals and Finals in a limited overs format. The tournament would never have a chance of prospering these days, but it was a fairly prestigious competition towards the end of the twentieth century and, perhaps because of the quality of hospitality on offer, it was a matter of course that all of the invited sides would field their strongest teams.
Glamorgan won the tournament in 1980 after beating Yorkshire by ten wickets in a rain affected Semi Final with John Hopkins scoring seventy six not our and Alan Jones unbeaten on sixty one. This win earned them a Final against Kent and we were comfortable winners. Glamorgan scored 276-4 off fifty five overs Javid getting sixty eight and Norman Featherstone sixty one, while Ezra Moseley got four wickets as we dismissed Kent for 222. The man of the match went to a Glamorgan player who scored an unbeaten eighty seven and took four wickets who passed away at the age of just fifty one, anyone remember him?
The last Tilcon Trophy was played in 1992 and was won by Glamorgan (I wonder of we kept it?) who edged a tight Semi Final against Yorkshire (for whom Sachin Tendulkar scored forty) by eight runs after we'd managed just 175 with Hugh Morris being the mainstay with eighty two. Two Steve's, Bastien and Barwick took four and three wickets respectively.
In the Final, Glamorgan faced Sussex and their victory was a lot more comfortable this time. Tony Cottey got ninety one as we amassed 291-5 in fifty five overs and Sussex could only manage 169 as Bastien claimed four more victims.
I suppose Glamorgan's Cup Final wins in 1980 and 1992 are much like Wales' Euro Quarter Finals of 1976 - gone and largely forgotten.
Reply With Quote
