Glamorgan claim third one-day title

Robert Croft has tasted one-day success with Glamorgan three times before © Getty Images Enlarge

Robert Croft, whose 106 set up the victory over Lancashire on Sunday that sealed the National League title for Glamorgan, has expressed his delight at winning the title with three games to spare, giving Glamorgan time to focus on the County Championship campaign.

"It's pretty special, we don't have to wait until the end of the season to win it," Croft told BBC Wales Sport. "We've got the cup in the cabinet, now we've got promotion in the County Championship to concentrate on."

Even without Michael Kasprowicz, Andrew Davies and Matthew Elliott, their Australian batting import, who pulled out in the morning with a knee injury, Glamorgan stormed to victory in front of a packed Rhos-on-Sea crowd with almost five overs to spare, to claim their third one-day league title in 11 years, adding to the two they won in 1993 and 2002.

In addition to Croft, three other players remain from the side that won the title in 1993: David Hemp, Matthew Maynard, who hit an important half-century to maintain the momentum, and Adrian Dale, who hit the winning runs. "The likes of Maynard, myself and Dale have been around the tracks for a good while, we've tasted a bit of this success before," said Croft. "But it's all about these youngsters taking a bit of success as well and hopefully it will build them up for the future. Those boys in there will take a bit of time to take it all in, but yeah, it's special."

That Dale hit the winning runs was especially poignant, as he announced his retirement from first-class cricket last week. The win was also special for Maynard, who was brought up at Menai Bridge, not far from Colwyn Bay, where the game was played.

"To get it today on home soil is brilliant, and for me especially coming from this neck of the woods, it's tremendous," said Maynard. "Crofty gave us a great start alongside Wharfy [Alex Wharf] and my job was made easier after that. Fortunately Lancashire bowled a bit straight to me, which was quite nice as it's my strength, so I managed to get away to a good start and carry on from there."