The 2021 season was Glamorgan County Cricket Club's 134th year in existence and their 101st as a first-class cricket county. They played all of their home matches at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the County Championship adopted a new, two-stage format for the 2021 season; in the first stage, the 18 counties were placed into three groups of six teams each, and played each of the other counties in their group home and away. At the end of the stage, the top two teams from each group were placed into Division One, the next two teams into Division Two and the bottom two teams into Division Three. In the second stage, they would then play home and away against each of the teams they had not already faced, carrying forward the average of the points they had accrued in the two games against the team they had already played in the first stage. Glamorgan finished third in Group 3, before coming last in Division Two with three defeats in their four matches. They also finished bottom of the South Group of the 2021 T20 Blast, although they finished top of Group B in the 2021 One-Day Cup, which meant they qualified directly for the semi-finals. There they beat Essex by five wickets, chasing down a target of 290 with two overs to spare. In the final against Durham, they were put in to bat and set a total of 296 before bowling Durham out for 238 to claim a first title since 2004.
The team was led by Matthew Maynard for a second year as head coach, although David Harrison handled coaching duties in the One-Day Cup while Maynard was serving as an assistant coach for Welsh Fire in the Hundred. Wicketkeeper-batsman Chris Cooke served as captain in the County Championship and the T20 Blast, while Kiran Carlson took over the captaincy for the One-Day Cup, while Cooke was playing for Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred. Glamorgan's overseas players were Ireland batsman Andrew Balbirnie, who signed for the first month of the season; Australians Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser; South African Colin Ingram; and New Zealand batsman Hamish Rutherford, who signed for the One-Day Cup campaign and the last four matches of the County Championship season. Also brought in for the 2021 season was Durham bowler James Weighell, who signed a two-year contract, while former bowler James Harris returned on a two-week loan in late April, and Somerset batter Eddie Byrom joined on loan for the last month of the season before a permanent move ahead of the 2022 season.
Bowler Marchant de Lange left Glamorgan after four seasons as a domestic player to join Somerset as an overseas player. All-rounder Graham Wagg was released by Glamorgan at the end of the 2020 season after 10 years with the Welsh county, while Kieran Bull, Connor Brown and Owen Morgan were also allowed to leave. Glamorgan released England-born batter Charlie Hemphrey in May 2021 after he was deemed to no longer be considered qualified to play for England and would therefore be treated as an overseas player. Bowler Roman Walker joined Leicestershire on loan in July 2021, before moving permanently at the end of the season.
County Championship Group 3
Yorkshire v Glamorgan (8–11 April)
Glamorgan v Sussex (15–18 April)
Northamptonshire v Glamorgan (22–25 April)
Glamorgan v Kent (29 April – 2 May)
Lancashire v Glamorgan (6–9 May)
Glamorgan v Yorkshire (13–16 May)
Kent v Glamorgan (20–23 May)
Glamorgan v Lancashire (3–6 June)
Sussex v Glamorgan (4–7 July)
Glamorgan v Northamptonshire (11–14 July)
Division 2
Glamorgan v Essex (30 August – 2 September)
Durham v Glamorgan (5–8 September)
Glamorgan v Gloucestershire (12–15 September)
Surrey v Glamorgan (21–24 September)
One-Day Cup Group stage
advanced directly to the semi-finals advanced to the quarter-finals
Glamorgan v Warwickshire (22 July)
Northamptonshire v Glamorgan (25 July)
Somerset v Glamorgan (28 July)
Derbyshire v Glamorgan (30 July)
Glamorgan v Surrey (3 August)
Leicestershire v Glamorgan (5 August)
Glamorgan v Nottinghamshire (8 August)
Glamorgan v Yorkshire (12 August)
Knockout stage
Semi-final: Glamorgan v Essex (16 August)
Final: Glamorgan v Durham (19 August)
T20 Blast Standings
Advance to quarter-finals
Matches Glamorgan v Gloucestershire (10 June)
Glamorgan v Essex (13 June)
Surrey v Glamorgan (14 June)
Glamorgan v Kent (16 June)
Glamorgan v Middlesex (18 June)
Somerset v Glamorgan (19 June)
Sussex v Glamorgan (22 June)
Gloucestershire v Glamorgan (24 June)
Middlesex v Glamorgan (27 June)
Glamorgan v Surrey (29 June)
Essex v Glamorgan (1 July)
Glamorgan v Sussex (2 July)
Glamorgan v Somerset (16 July)
Hampshire v Glamorgan (18 July)
Pre-season and friendlies Three-day: Glamorgan v Cardiff UCCE (29–31 March)
50-over: Glamorgan v Wales National County (20 July)
Statistics Batting + First-classPlayerMatchesInningsRunsKiran Carlson14234928170*48.8466.473521200David Lloyd1425182812134.5063.591521163Chris Cooke14217816205*58.2854.18413756Dan Douthwaite131614829632.1346.88043636Billy Root11182442110*27.6245.61112513Hamish Rutherford4702607137.1454.16021380Marnus Labuschagne6922287732.5765.51021320Andrew Salter101142219031.5734.69011340Callum Taylor6822158435.8338.94021231Joe Cooke81322036818.4535.48011281Source: ESPNcricinfo
+ List APlayerMatchesInningsRunsNick Selman109142114052.6273.60120341Hamish Rutherford10903088634.2293.61040367Kiran Carlson10912328229.0098.72020274Billy Root10801916723.8777.01021141Steven Reingold10901874020.7759.74000221Tom Cullen108317558*35.0079.18011141Joe Cooke108317466*34.80119.17010203Callum Taylor330533617.6682.8100031Lukas Carey10545119*51.00121.4200070Andrew Salter732423342.00150.0000031Source: ESPNcricinfo
+ Twenty20PlayerMatchesInningsRunsMarnus Labuschagne88139093*55.71140.790403511David Lloyd121203025225.16147.310213115Dan Douthwaite121112035320.30153.78012718Colin Ingram121211747515.81104.19011184Kiran Carlson121101413212.81127.02000124Nick Selman6601306521.66126.21010125Chris Cooke111121222613.55103.38000111James Weighell770965113.71135.2101186Billy Root6518841*22.00110.0000155Callum Taylor55139169.7588.6300021Source: ESPNcricinfo
Bowling + First-classPlayerMatchesInningsOversMaidensRunsWicketsMichael Hogan1321332.578874345/287/6125.702.6258.7310Timm van der Gugten1117274.354823274/346/13930.482.9961.0000Michael Neser58127.029386235/397/9916.783.0333.1310David Lloyd1420170.324558214/116/3226.573.2748.7100Dan Douthwaite1320181.118781172/164/4845.944.3163.9400Andrew Salter1013218.541687154/184/5845.803.1387.5300James Weighell4880.1935972/463/6951.284.4768.7100Callum Taylor68146.21648452/162/7896.803.30175.6000James Harris (cricketer, born 1990)2444.5315942/52/2139.753.5467.2500Lukas Carey3454.0917943/563/5644.753.3181.0000Source: ESPNcricinfo
+ List APlayerMatchesInningsOversMaidensRunsWicketsJoe Cooke10862.52286205/6114.304.5518.8501Michael Hogan10967.17201164/3312.562.9925.1810Lukas Carey10863.22352122/2429.335.5531.6600Andrew Salter7544.0216493/3718.223.7229.3300James Weighell5430.1016983/721.125.6022.6200Steven Reingold10627.0016351/1632.606.0332.4000Callum Taylor3318.009131/630.335.0536.0000Roman Walker119.205311/5353.005.6756.0000Andy Gorvin4318.007411/1174.004.11108.0000Source: ESPNcricinfo
+ Twenty20PlayerMatchesInningsOversMaidensRunsWicketsDan Douthwaite121234.40294153/2819.608.4813.8600Marnus Labuschagne8822.0019392/2221.448.7714.6600Roman Walker6618.0012883/1516.007.1113.5000Prem Sisodiya8831.0025672/2236.578.2526.5700Andrew Salter8826.0024372/3134.719.3422.2800Timm van der Gugten9930.2129273/1641.719.6226.0000Ruaidhri Smith5519.0013842/1334.507.2628.5000James Weighell7717.0019531/2265.0011.4734.0000Callum Taylor524.003421/1317.008.5012.0000David Lloyd1248.007111/1871.008.8748.0000Source: ESPNcricinfo
References