Pink is the new red, but is winning the new feeling for Glamorgan in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals? Richard Thomas sees reasons for optimism, especially if results lead to the county having to hit the road.

 

 

It is pink ball time this week as England take on West Indies in the first northern hemisphere Day-Night Test match to played under the Edgbaston floodlights.

 

And talking of pink balls, Glamorgan will need to find theirs this year if they are not to repeat making a right old horlicks of the T20 Blast quarter-finals, which they did last year against Yorkshire at Cardiff.

 

Having done all the hard work in the group stage, it turned out to be men against boys as the Yorkies blew away Glamorgan in a one-sided contest.

Responding to Yorkshire’s more than impressive 180 for eight last August, Glamorgan’s hopes disappeared in the space of 28 balls with star man Colin Ingram out with his side 28 for four. They ended up being skittled for 90.

 

It was nothing short of an embarrassing performance, made all the more frustrating for all the fans who turned up with the expectation being that the Welsh county were a couple of hours from reaching their first T20 Finals Day since 2004.

 

Sadly, it was not to be. Far from it.

 

But this year, there is a bit more expected of Glamorgan. Not only do they have a well-balanced bowling unit but they also have a batting line-up with enough talent that at least one of the top six is capable of putting in star performances.

 

And as well as having Ingram, Jacques Rudolph, Chris Cooke and Aneurin Donald, Glamorgan hope to have David Miller back available for the knockout stages depending on how the dates of the fixtures fall.

 

The bad news, however, is that if Glamorgan do end up finishing top of the South Group (a win against Middlesex on Friday would ensure that) they might have to endure Yorkshire at home again.

But at the time of writing they could also be paired with Derbyshire, Leicestershire (who they lost to in the 2004 semi-final at Edgbaston), Northamptonshire or Lancashire.

And if results go against them then Birmingham Bears could come into the reckoning, too.

 

Even if Glamorgan did not secure a home draw in that last eight it would not necessarily be a set-back to be sent on the road, considering that all their six victories have come away from home with four of the six home games in Cardiff washed out.

 

But if Glamorgan could edge past the quarter-finals it would mean, of course, that they would qualify for a place in the T20 Finals Day which is back at Edgbaston this season.

An army of Glamorgan fans would make the trip up the M5, no doubt, to the venue where they made the 2004 finals, before going out at the semi-final stage in their one and only appearance so far.