Cricketers from Monmouth School for Boys recently played at Sophia Gardens cricket ground as part of a new partnership with Glamorgan County Cricket Club.
The school’s U15s faced the Wales U14s side at the ground, losing by five wickets in the final over. Joe Harris top-scored with 51 and put on an 81-run opening partnership with Michael Burger as Monmouth posted 213-6 from 40 overs. Despite bowling efforts from Josh Middlecote (2-23), Sam Swingwood (1-54) and Charlie Weldon (1-18), Wales reached the target with just three balls remaining.
Joe Harris, captain and wicketkeeper, said: “It was amazing to play at Glamorgan and a great opportunity. It was a shame that we couldn’t quite pull off the win. We loved the day and will remember the occasion for a very long time.”
As part of the new link with, Monmouth’s cricketers will have the chance to play more matches at the venue which has hosted Ashes Tests and international matches.
Hugh Morris, Glamorgan’s chief executive, commented: “We are very keen to work a lot closer with a lot of our educational institutions in Wales. Monmouth is one of the top independent schools in Wales and the premier cricket school in Wales and it makes a lot of sense that we work more collaboratively.
“We felt it would be nice to work closer together and one of the ideas we had was for Monmouth School for Boys to play a game at Sophia Gardens. We are not envisaging this to be a one-off. It was a great experience for schoolboys to play at a Test match ground and on a pitch which the day before was used for a first-class game. We’re a professional cricket organisation and we want the best squad we possibly can. We are always on the look-out to identify, nurture and develop talent.”