da betcris： A brief history compiled by Dr.Andrew Hignell
08-Jan-2006A brief history compiled by Dr.Andrew Hignell (Hon. Statistician and Historian to Glamorgan CCC)Pontypridd entered the first-class cricket calendar in 1926, asGlamorgan`s officials tried to boost the club`s membership bytaking county cricket into the valley communities. YnysangharadPark still stages an annual fixture, either a championship gameor a one-day game. However, in 1994 the South African touristsvisited the ground, followed in 1996 by the Pakistanis. Thesegames came about as a result of generous sponsorship fromTaff-Ely Borough Council , and a lot of hard work by theofficials from Pontypridd C.C. However, as in the match with thePakistanis, it seems that every time county cricket ventures upthe Taff Valley to Pontypridd, the heavens open, and the gamesend in rain-affected draws.Cricket in Pontypridd dates back to 1858, and like many otherclubs in these industrial communities, its origin was the resultof the influx into the Valleys of English born and educatedmigrants. A few barriers existed to the development of the gamewith the shortage of suitable land and long hours of work at thebooming iron foundries and steelworks, and the earliest gameswere often just glorified practice sessions. Things had improvedby May 1870 when a formal club was established, and fixtures weregained with other recently formed teams from other valley towns.These games were initially staged in the grounds of GelliwastedHouse, before a move in 1873 to a more spacious area of farmlandowned by Gordon Lenox, the resident director of Brown Lenox, thetown’s largest ironworks.Over the years, there has been a very close link between BrownLenox and Pontypridd C.C. Gordon Lenox oversaw the laying of adecent wicket in one of the fields at Ynysangharad Farm (looselytranslated as Angharad`s Isle) alongside the River Taff. Thecompany, who manufactured anchors, chains and cables for theAdmiralty, also acted as generous philanthropists by giving thecricket club money to buy equipment and also kit, knowing thatmany of the club`s members were men of quite modest means. Giventhis help, the number of members increased and in 1897 Pontypriddwere able to enter the newly-formed Glamorgan Cricket League,playing fixtures with clubs from Treherbert, Treorchy, MerthyrTydfil, Ferndale and Mountain Ash.The farmland home of Pontypridd C.C. was transformed into anattractive parkland after the Great War, when hundreds ofsoldiers and servicemen from the town were killed. When the Warfinally ended, plans were set in motion for the creation of a WarMemorial for Pontypridd, and in keeping with their role asgenerous patrons to the town, Brown Lenox offered their farmlandat Ynysangharad. Public subscriptions and grants from the MinersWelfare Fund helped to finance the conversion of the farmlandinto a spacious park and public recreation ground. The WarMemorial was opened on August Bank Holiday Monday 1923, and overthe next few years a bowling green, rugby pitch, swimming pool,tennis courts and bandstand were added to the already existingcricket pitch and small pavilion.The Park proved to be a popular attraction, and it was nosurprise that when Glamorgan were looking to tap new supportduring the late 1920`s, they should choose the Ynysangharad Parkground. The attendances at the earliest county games were sogood, that in 1929 Pontypridd was allocated the prestigioustourist match with South Africa, plus two other county games withNottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Indeed, in the latter game,George Geary recorded the best ever bowling figures against theWelsh county, taking 10-18.As Glamorgan took county cricket into Monmouthshire andCarmarthenshire, Pontypridd`s allocation was limited to oneannual game. In recent years, this has been a limited overscontest, but in 1994 sponsorship from the Borough Council andlocal businessmen, saw South Africa return to Ynysanghard Park.During the previous winter, the old single-storey pavilion hadbeen replaced by a modern two-storey brick building, and althoughGlamorgan have to install temporary seating and other facilitiesat the Park, the games at Pontypridd have been well attended.For further information about the history of this, and othergrounds used by Glamorgan, you may be interested in purchasing”The Cricket Grounds of Glamorgan”, written by Andrew Hignell andpublished in 1985 by the Association of Cricket Statisticians andHistorians. For further details, please consult the A.C.S.homepage on CricInfo, send e-mail to [email protected] or write toPeter Wynne-Thomas at 3, Radcliffe Road, Nottingham.