- Dealings with Dragons -
What's more, there's a lot riding on this game with Warwickshire still in contention for County Championship honours alongside Nottinghamshire and Somerset. Beardsmore research has booked us a room at the National Sports Centre which should be very close to the ground at Sophia Gardens; I've never been to the South Wales industrial area before, let alone Cardiff, so the whole week is set to be one fascinating voyage of discovery. Catching the 12:30 train from Birmingham, the journey takes just under two hours and has the spectacle of Cardiff Central railway station at the other end. The architecture here evokes the golden age of the Great Western Railway with art deco platform flourishes and a frontage clad in Portland Stone. We even have a red dragon welcoming committee to prove we are in Wales.
- River Taff and the Principality Stadium -
With the match due to take place between Tuesday 8th and Friday 11th September, we travel down on the Monday aiming to get settled into our accommodation and find our way around. Cardiff is clearly an intensely proud sporting city and nowhere is this more apparent than with the majestic Principality Stadium, constructed at the turn of the millennium to host national events including football matches and (perhaps most famously) rugby. The stadium towers over the side of the River Taff as we cross Cardiff Bridge and find the cricket ground - we're literally staying right next door, although it is a novelty to be lodging in a leisure centre rather than a hotel! Monday evening has us mooching around the surrounding district of Pontcanna, finding the Robin Hood (which was a 2026 Good Beer Guide entry but currently doesn't serve any real ale) and the Cricketers (highly appropriate) by way of liquid refreshment. Jemima's Pitchfork is a golden beer from the Glamorgan Brewing Company based in Llantrisant, nice!
- Play Underway -
Tuesday morning starts off damp and the whole of the first session is wiped out waiting for the weather to dry up. Play gets underway at around half past one and we quickly get the sense this is not going to be an ordinary game. Glamorgan win the toss and choose to bat, hoping to get through any initial tricky conditions and pile on the runs, but in the blink of an eye they're 39 for 5 and Warwickshire's Ethan Bamber has taken all five wickets. Mr B and I are delighted with that start yet still expect some kind of resistance to emerge but no, the wickets just keep on tumbling. Bamber finishes his spell and is replaced at the Cathedral Road End by captain Ed Barnard who maintains the bowling pressure, bagging a miserly 3 wickets for 5 runs as the home side are dismissed for a meagre 69 all out. Colin Ingram top scored with a flighty 19 and was the only batsman to reach double figures. We're in shock!
- Mr B meets Morgan -
After the tea break, it's Warwickshire's turn to bat and the Bears top order thankfully make a better fist of things. The double Y opening pair of Rob Yates and Will Young ably negate the bowling wiles of Timm van der Gugten and the erratic Mir Hamza, so it's a surprise when the seemingly not very threatening spin of Ben Kellaway extracts Yates (35) and Dan Mousley (5) in swift succession. Young is steadily compiling runs though, reaching a valuable half century before Hamza gets his radar right and bowls the New Zealander for 60. There are no further alarms thereafter and the close of play is reached on 154/3, giving Warwickshire an already healthy lead of 85. In between times, we explore a little more of Glamorgan's SWALEC home, Stephen making the acquaintance of Morgan the mascot - they do like their dragons here...
- Cardiff Arms Park -
Tuesday evening has us venturing into the Canton district of Cardiff courtesy of the Cowbridge Road, with swathes of football fans making their way to watch Cardiff City play Stoke. The lvor Davies Wetherspoons had been extremely popular pre-match but the exodus enables us to get a bite to eat, noting how the pub takes inspiration from legendary actor and composer Ivor Novello's birth name. Wednesday morning sees me taking in more of Wales's sporting history with a glance at Cardiff Arms Park, primarily a rugby union ground which is dwarfed by the presence of the Principality Stadium next door. Bute Park and West Gate make for a lovely walking route while the wall leading towards Cardiff Castle is decorated with carved animals.
- 65 All Out! Game Over -
Back at the cricket, Warwickshire buoyantly extend their advantage by amassing a total of 391 including half centuries from Sam Hain (76) and Barnard (51), not forgetting a handy 49 not out by wicketkeeper Kai Smith. The Bears therefore lead by 322 and we enjoy a productive lunchtime visit to the Museum of Welsh Cricket based in the Hugh Morris Centre, spotting vintage kitbags and learning about Glamorgan's 1969 County Championship winning team. The current incarnation are struggling in this particular fixture but surely can't bat as badly again, can they? At 42/1 things are looking a little more promising, but Mr Barnard seemingly has other ideas and a scarcely-believable period sees a procession of batsmen heading to the pavilion almost on repeat. 65 all out - I repeat, 65 all out - means the game hasn't even lasted two days, and Warwickshire have won by a colossal innings and 257 runs. Barnard grabbed 5/13 for match figures of 8/18 (wow) while across both innings, Manav Suthar took three tail end wickets without conceding a single run. We quite frankly are astonished!
- A Celebratory Thumbs Up -
Stephen and I would certainly have taken that result at the start of the week, the win keeping Warwickshire well in the hunt for title honours with another two rounds of matches to play - we still suspect Somerset might just edge things overall although you never know. We celebrate with a couple of pints in the heart of Cardiff, whereby our call at the City Arms stands out for my chance to sample Brains beer, the renowned regional brewery having been founded in 1882. A pint of their Dark proves smooth and creamy while we watch some of the Champions League football coverage, the pub then being taken over by members of a male voice choir complete with matching blue blazers. Tiny Rebel is on the next corner for a craft angle, Dunk making another appearance after I'd sampled it in Stourbridge recently, while the Mad Dog outlet at the other end of Womanby Street also receives a brief look for Bruin's Ruin.
- The Packet -
Right then, the match has finished very early so what are we going to do with ourselves for the blank couple of days? Cardiff's historic waterfront has been the subject of considerable regenerative activity from the 1990s onwards so after our regular Hwb Caffi breakfast, we plot our way along Bute Street where the offshoot roads might once have resonated to the sights and sounds of the dockyards. Butetown isn't the most affluent of locations and forms a sharp contrast with the glamour and investment on show in Cardiff Bay itself, although construction work is progressing with the provision of a new station to be served by tram-trains as part of the South Wales Metro. Amidst a lot of change, the Packet Hotel has remained intact as a Brains public house offering a nod to the wider area's heritage, recalling the days when it would have been known as Tiger Bay with merchant seamen and steam ferries to Bristol.
- Senedd Cymru -
The modern Cardiff Bay is spectacular, mixing historic aspects with striking contemporary amenities. The Mermaid Quay development contains several of your well-known eaterie chains such as Nando's and Pizza Express, making for a leisure destination at the water's edge. The Pierhead Building is a terracotta treat, representing the headquarters of the Bute Docks Company with some exquisite tiled staircases inside, while the Millennium Centre is a Welsh arts hub with an emphasis on opera, ballet, orchestral music and creative industries. The frontage dramatically features the Welsh phrase "Creu Gwir fel gwydr o ffwrnais awen" and the English "In these stones horizons sing". Another must-see element is the Senedd, home to the Welsh Parliament, its central funnel design intended to represent transparency.
- Codebreakers -
After a drink in the aforementioned Packet pub (Brains SA in my case, watching the European T20 cricket league clash between Rotterdam and Glasgow), we continue to survey the bay by investigating the Mount Stuart Docks. Techniquest is closed for maintenance so we can't dip into its science and technology-related exhibits but we can admire the Codebreakers statue, paying tribute to sporting heroes who made the transition from rugby union to rugby league. Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan and Gus Risman are depicted in bronze while the names of ten other players are remembered too. Returning to the city centre, we have a quizzing evening courtesy of the Cricketers (finishing third) and still have another day to fill...
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