Glamorgan welcome best ever Division One finish

Glamorgan captain Kiran Carlson says the team "would have bitten your hand off" at the start of the year to finish sixth in the Championship.

It is the first time Glamorgan will play successive seasons in Division One after relegation in 2001 and 2005 - their only previous seasons in the top flight.

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They were fourth starting the last block of fixtures, but suffered heavy innings defeats against Somerset and Warwickshire in early September.

"It feels like a big relief," Carlson said after the season-ending, rain-hit draw with Essex.

"It's nice to finish well, there was a moment we thought we could be in that relegation battle but [winning at] Surrey last week was a huge result, and to be able to put in a really good three-and-a-bit days against Essex was very pleasing."

The Welsh county were a surprise package earlier in the campaign, with home victories over Somerset and Surrey which saw them riding high, before three defeats and a precarious draw when the four-day competition resumed in late August.

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"It's been a year of a lot of ups and downs in the Championship, especially a frustrating end to the year, but it's a testament to all the lads, the coaching staff and everyone around us that we've finished strongly in these last two games," said Carlson.

"Sixth is somewhere we're comfortable and something to build on for next year."

Coach Richard Dawson, who has worked with England Lions and was in the running for the senior England job mid-season, has steered Glamorgan to promotion and top-flight survival in his first two seasons without extensive big-name recruitment.

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But he is keen to spread the praise for maximising the club's resources.

"It's a collective effort, a huge effort from everyone," he said.

"People stepped up. You never know if someone is ready until you put them in, so it's great when they stand up.

"It might not be a hundred or a five-for, but you see how they walk out and face up to an international player at the other end."

However, Dawson says the team needs to become more ruthless in 2027 to turn four-day draws into wins, and to win tight T20 games. They missed out on the knock-out stages for the ninth season running with a record of six wins from 12.

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"It's having that ruthless edge to us in all formats. We've shown the skill level, but if you look at the four-day stuff, how [champions] Warwickshire finished the season off, they've been bang on every session," reflected the coach.

"I've looked at how Somerset went about their work when we went down there. In the T20 season, we didn't qualify, but I don't think that'll be too far away.

"People making match-defining innings or closing it out, it's about how consistent we can be under pressure."

New faces to emerge in 2027

For next year Glamorgan will be losing a total of 35 seasons of experience between the retiring trio of Chris Cooke (16 years with the club), Colin Ingram (11 summers) and Billy Root (eight).

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Teenager Jack Hope-Bell could be the next batter in line for regular Championship exposure after two games in addition to a One-Day Cup run.

Meanwhile, Alex Horton scored heavily in the One-Day Cup and could be a leading name to replace Cooke, with Will Smale, Henry Hurle and Harry Wallace as other wicket-keeping options.

As well as replacing Ingram as the overseas batter, Glamorgan will have to try to tie down overseas bowlers, after using Ryan Hadley, Mir Hamza, Ray Toole, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Nathan McAndrew in that role during the four-day and T20 campaigns.

"Colin Ingram may be the last of an extinct breed, here from March to September. Ultimately we've got a spot opened up so we'll probably look to get an overseas top three, or opening batter to fill that gap we've got," director of cricket Mark Wallace told a members' forum.

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"It is so difficult with the international calendar; it takes a lot of my time."

Meanwhile the 50-overs competition - where Glamorgan won two games out of eight - is being justified for its development role.

"We've taken the approach for the last few years to try to strike a balance between giving squad players and young players experience, and trying to make sure there's enough experience around them," said Wallace.

"The last player to be selected into the batting unit was Jack Hope-Bell, so if one of the more senior players played, Jack would have missed that debut hundred and that development, so it's a balance.

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"Tom Norton was blooded in the 50-overs competition last year. We've used that with Ben Kellaway and Asa Tribe in the past."

Contract announcements for the remaining members of the men's squad, along with several current players and new signings for the women's team, are expected in the coming weeks.

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