Glamorgan sign staging agreement with ECB

Glamorgan County Cricket Club have announced that they have signed a three-year staging agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The agreement confirms the staging of one-day international cricket matches at Sophia Gardens in 2003 and 2005. The NatWest Series matches played in this period will be South Africa against Zimbabwe on Saturday 5 July 2003 and Australia against Bangladesh in 2005. There is no game scheduled for 2004.

Mike Fatkin, chief executive of Glamorgan County Cricket Club said:

"This is important news for Glamorgan, and for cricket in Wales, as it provides us with the security of having confirmed international cricket at Sophia Gardens next year and in 2005. We will be able to plan more effectively for the future in terms of improving the infrastructure of the ground, and we will use these two events as a launching pad to bid for the staging of bigger games in Wales in the future. In addition to these matches, we are hosting another Wales versus England one-day game on Saturday 14 June next year - a fixture we are keen to make a regular feature of our domestic cricket calendar."