English county triumph for Fletcher (22 Sep 1997)

22 September 1997

English county triumph for Fletcher

Taunton. Western Province cricket coach Duncan Fletcher has helped steer Glamorgan to their first English county championship title in 28 years.

The Zimbabwe-born Fletcher, in his first season of coaching in county cricket, can take some of the credit for the Welsh county's first triumph in England's first-class competition since 1969.

Glamorgan, who led Kent by only one point on the log going into the final round, secured the title after thrashing Somerset by 10 wickets in Taunton at the weekend.

It was only the third time that Glamorgan had won the title.

They finished four points clear of Kent who had to be content with being runners-up in spite of beating Surrey by five wickets at Canterbury.

The other foreign influence in Glamorgan's triumph was their overseas professional, Waqar Younis, who was in top form in taking 68 championship wickets. Younis will spearhead Pakistan's attack in the three-test series against South Africa next month.

Fletcher is expected to return to Cape Town this week to take charge of Western Province, who won the four-day title in 1995-96, for his fifth season.

WP play Boland in a three-day friendly starting at the Worcester United Cricket Club on Wednesday and in a one-day match at the same venue on Sunday.

Source: Independent Newspapers All Material © copyright Independent Newspapers 1997.