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This weeks episode is an interview with two cricketers who have turned their love of the game into a fledgling business.

Rich describes how his pastime of making things with wood turned to repairing bats for friends and other club members and persuaded him to set up a business to deliver bat refurbishment to the wider cricketing community.

The boys describe how the business has grown organically, turning first to providing new bats and then to offer a small selection of cricket gear.

Anyone interested in contacting Rich or Hedd to discuss what they can offer, their mobile numbers are as follows:

Rich 07970 498350  Hedd 07950200211

You can follow them on X and instagram here:

X  -  @bats_bear
Intagram  -  @bear_bats

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Jean Silvan Evans had a successful career as a journalist and lecturer.  Her husband, also a journalist, was a keen supporter of Glamorgan County Cricket Club.  To keep him company, Jean would sometimes attend a day at the cricket with no intention of watching and little interest in what happened the other side of that boundary rope.

Slowly, with the help of Glamorgan's travelling supporters group the St Helen's Balconiers, Jean began not only to watch more of the play but also fell in love with what she calls 'the slow drama of county cricket'.

When Jean's husband  Dennis passed away, her trips away with the Balconiers became not only a way of remembering him but also a source of comfort and friendship for her.

She talks about her growing interest in and affection for the game of cricket as well as commenting on the future for Glamorgan and the importance of county cricket to the future of Test cricket.

For those interested in the work of the St Helen's Balconiers, in particular their regular trips to other county grounds, you can go here:

http://www.thebalconiers.co.uk/

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In this episode we look at two County Championship match second innings' separated by 25 years.

The first took place during the 1998 season between Northants and Glamorgan at Wantage Road.  In their second innings, Mal Loye hit an incredible 322 not out as Northants saved the game with a second innings 712.  For the details of the game, you can go here:

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1998/ENG_LOCAL/CC/R04/NORTHANTS_GLAM_CC_21-24MAY1998.html

The second took place in May 2023 at Hove where Sussex hosted Glamorgan.  After conceding a huge lead in their first innings Glamorgan amassed 737 runs in their second, breaking several records on the way to securing a draw.  For Wisden's record of the match you can go here:

https://wisden.com/matches/live/214135/sussex-v-glamorgan-at-hove-lv=-insurance-county-championship-18-21-may-2023

Northants had held the record for the highest second innings in a first class match before Glamorgan came along and snatched it from them.

On this podcast we talk to Mal Loye and Tony Cottee, the Glamorgan captain in that game in 1998 as well as club archivists and historians of Northamptonshire and Glamorgan, Andrew Radd and Andrew Hignell about that game at Wantage Road.  We also catch up with Glamorgan batter Kiran Carlson and talk to him about his career best to date of 192 in the match at Hove as well as the other Glamorgan players who contributed to the record breaking innings.

For a full list of all the records achieved at Hove you can go here:

https://glamorgancricket.com/news/stat-attack-glamorgan-set-a-new-world-record-at-hove

Take a look at this list, compiled by Andrew Radd, of the top ten first class innings for Northants:

https://nccc.co.uk/news/northamptonshires-10-best-first-class-innings/

And finally, for more Glamorgan batting records you can go here:

https://glamorgancricketarchives.com/batting-records/

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This week’s episode is a chat with members of the Hook Cricket Club that, this year has celebrated its centenary.  We talk to:

Dave Petrie who outlines the history of the village as well as charting the history of the cricket club.

Jamie Phelps shares with us the state of the club today and how they have gone about their centenary celebrations.

President Evan Martin shares his memories and his love of the game of cricket as well as his beloved Hook Cricket Club.

You can read a little bit about one of the events they held over the summer here:

https://www.herald.wales/west-wales/pembrokeshire/special-match-to-mark-hook-cricket-clubs-centenary-year/

http://www.pembrokeshiresport.co.uk/cricket/former-england-players-to-celebrate-hook-centenary

You can follow the club’s exploits on X at @HookCricketClub and on Facebook

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This week's episode is an interview with the Head of Performance Science and Medicine at the ECB, Rob Ahmun.

Originally from Cardiff Rob was a strength and conditioning coach with Glamorgan before his move to the England Team in 2014.  He talks to us about his sporting journey and career to date.

Here is a page from the ECB website detailing the work of Rob's Department:

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/2104536/scie

Here is an article from the University of Essex detailing some of the research that Rob mentions in his interview:

https://www.essex.ac.uk/news/2022/07/12/england-cricket-team-is-fitter-than-ever

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In this episode we talk to those involved in the 51st Final of this competition.  They are, in order that they appear in the episode:

Steve Davies, workforce administrator, South West Wales
 Zack Gidlow , Chair of cricket at Colwyn Bay Cricket Club and first team player
Mike Haydn, Chair of Swansea Cricket Club
Neil Perrett, Chair, Usk Cricket Club
Brad Wadlan, Captain, Swansea Cricket Club
Sion Morris, Colwyn Bay Cricket Club

You can find a written report on the final here:

https://cricketwales.org.uk/news/senior-open-welsh-cup-final-2023-colwyn-bay-cc-v-swansea-cc

You can find some great stats about the Welsh Cup here:

https://nwsport.co.uk/2023/09/03/all-hail-colwyn-bay-2023-cricket-welsh-cup-winners/

We would like to add our congratulations to the Colwyn Bay Cricket Club

2023 Welsh Cup Winners !

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In this episode we remember long time treasurer with the St Helen's Balconiers Clive Hemp.

We talk to his children, David, Tim and Charlotte as well as his colleagues from the Balconiers Committee Allan Gray and Roger Skyrme, Swansea solicitor and main sponsor of the Swansea and West Wales cricket Festival Peter Lynne.

Our final guest who remembers Clive is Balconiers President Alan Jones.  Ex-Glamorgan cricketer and coach Alan has been President of Glamorgan County Cricket Club as well as the St Helen's Balconiers.

They talk about his time as a cricketer and the support he gave his two cricketing sons.  His personal qualities; a generosity of spirit, an egalitarian outlook and a people centered approach influenced not only his career as a cricketer but also his business life as a successful accountant.

Encouraged by his contact with Balconiers Chairman John Williams, Clive became an integral part of the organisation, using his business contacts to build sponsorship for the annual Swansea and West Wales Cricket Festival which was the jewel in the Balconiers crown.

All our guests paint a picture of a man who loved his sport, loved Glamorgan and made a great many friends through the world of cricket. 

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Paul Rees is a popular club cricketer who has played most of his cricket in and around Swansea as well as a number of representative teams at age group and league level.

He talks to us about his early cricketing experiences and how he developed as a cricketer.  In passing we talk about his rugby career and how that impacted on his cricket.

Paul explains how he developed his strengths as a batsman but also how his bowling was what he was noted for early on in his career.

He is rightly very proud of his involvement with the MCC, first as a player member and latterly as the organisation's representative for Wales.  He has played over 100 times for them and explains his pride at being able to attend Test Matches at Lords and be present in the Long Room getting close to cricket's world superstars.

Here are the details of how to become a member of the MCC:

https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-club/how-to-join

Here are the MCC's results for their fixtures played so far this season:

https://www.lords.org/mcc/mcc-cricket/mcc-fixtures?region=Wales&display=results

If you are part of a club that may be interested in having a fixture against MCC you can contact Paul via his Twitter feed @PaulRees10 OR send us an email here at the podcast and we will ensure it gets to Paul

Our email is [email protected]

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Ron Walton has spent a lifetime playing professional and amateur sport.  A footballer with Merthyr Town he went on to play professionally in Australia before starting a coaching career that saw him spend 18 seasons at Swansea City coaching the youth team as well as spells as caretaker manager.

He has played for a number of different cricket clubs in and around Merthyr but has spent the past few years playing for his home town club as well as clocking up over a 100 caps for the Wales Senior Cricket side.

At 79 years old he is the oldest cricketer ever to play in Division 1 of the South Wales Cricket Association.

This article was written nearly 10 years ago:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/pensioner-just-bowled-seven-maiden-7683549

Ron talks to us about his sporting memories mentioning many of the great sportspeople he played alongside.

Ron is mentioned in this Cricket Wales article on seniors cricket in Wales:

https://cricketwales.org.uk/news/cricket-wales-criced-cymru-seniors-60s-and-70s-2009-21

Here is Ron in campaigning mode back in 2004 trying to keep the ground where he played so much of his cricket.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/3878233.stm

Ron has been an incredible servant to sport in Wales and deserves every bit of recognition that he has got for his selfless service as player, coach and administrator.  We hope this episode will allow others who know him better to share their thoughts on this evergreen cricketer.

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In this episode we talk to Russell Penrhyn Jones, the founder and driving force behind the Wales National County (North) Representative Teams.

Founded in 2022, the Senior and U19 representative teams aim to give cricketers in the North Wales region opportunities to play representative cricket, develop their skills and further their cricket career aims.  You can read a brief article on their development here:

https://cricketwales.org.uk/news/walesnc-north

Russell talks about his involvement as a player and then a coach in both rugby and cricket.  He also talks about his son, Dewi and his experiences as a aspiring first class cricketer.  You can read a little bit about Dewi's career here:

https://glamorgancricketarchives.com/dewi-penrhyn-jones/

Russell talks about his experiences at Ruthin Cricket Club and Brymbo Cricket Club and his development as a coach before talking about Dewi's development as a schoolboy and academy cricketer as well as his time with Glamorgan CCC

You can follow Russell and the Wales National County (North) on Twitter @WalesNCNorth

If you want to be put in touch with Russell why not email us at:

[email protected]