Glamorgan’s Carlson wants earlier One-Day Cup final

Kiran Carlson made his Glamorgan debut in 2016

Glamorgan captain Kiran Carlson is calling for the One-Day Cup final to be brought forward after lifting the trophy on a murky Monday afternoon in front of a few hundred spectators.

The scheduling of the 50 overs final against Somerset on the fourth Sunday in September brought widespread criticism from county cricket supporters, especially after the first day’s play was washed out.

“100%, we don’t want to be playing five weeks after a semi-final and after four championship games,” said Carlson when asked about changing the date of the final.

“That’s not the way any team would want to do it. In an ideal world, we’d want to play the semi-final and go straight into the final.”

In 2021, Glamorgan won the final just three days after the semi-final, while Durham had just two days between the dates, allowing virtually no time for marketing the event to followers of the finalists.

The 2024 gap is at the other extreme, because of scheduling of the Hundred franchise tournament, international cricket, and the T20 Blast finals being held even longer after the group stages.

Many county supporters believe the one-day format, which started in 1963, is now being treated with disdain in a busy programme.

The only improvement for 2025 is that the final is on a Saturday, 20 September, allowing a better chance for ticket-holders to turn up on a reserve day if bad weather intervenes, rather than having to get back to work in many cases.

“I understand the people who make the schedule have a really tough job, they want to fit everything it and we’ve got to make the most of it as players,” Carlson told BBC Sport Wales.

"It would have been great to have a 50-over game in the sunshine, it was a 20-over game in the drizzle, but we still won a trophy.”

The situation would have been even worse without a the efforts of the Trent Bridge groundstaff to get the match on after heavy downpours over the weekend, without which the trophy would have been shared.

“No one wants to share the trophy, everyone wants a proper bash at trying to win it,” said Somerset captain Sean Dickson, who led a relatively inexperienced side as his county missed out on a third trophy in the space of 10 days following a T20 final defeat and a slip-up in the Championship.

Dickson made no excuses, but backed his opposite number’s calls for a rethink of the date, which also causes problems for counties retaining their overseas players.

“In terms of scheduling, Kiran alluded to it, having it at least a bit closer [to the earlier games] from numerous aspects. Glamorgan were able to play their overseas player, Colin [Ingram], but we weren’t [with Riley Meredith on Australia duty].

“That would definitely change things, but it’s a hard job for the ECB to try to fit everything in.”

Glamorgan’s Kiwi coach Grant Bradburn, in his first season in the county game, is not keen to enter the scheduling debate publicly, but praised his team’s ability to overcome poor Championship form in the long gap.

“We’ve had a tough few weeks [with three defeats out of four] in the red-ball, but it makes the win sweeter in that the boys were able to park that for a few days.

"It has been a bit strange playing the semi then waiting for five weeks, and after the disappointments of the past weeks I’m really proud of the way the group has come together,” said Bradburn.

'We're a proud club'

Glamorgan’s squad for the 2021 triumph could not build on the success, with only Carlson, Billy Root and Andy Gorvin still on the staff, so can the class of ’24 make more use of the silverware as a platform for more consistency?

“We’re a proud club, we’re well aware our job is to keep developing, we want to promote as many Welsh players coming through as we can, but it’s not exclusive,” said Bradburn.

“Above all, we want to develop a strong, really enjoyable learning environment where we continue to get better in all formats.

"It’s pleasing to see young fellows get a nice opportunity for the big occasion, particularly Ben Kellaway, and Will Smale’s been excellent behind the poles and got us some momentum [with the bat].”

Glamorgan and T20 Blast winners Gloucestershire will now aim to finish the four-day season on a positive note as they play their final Division Two Championship match in Cardiff, starting on Thursday 26 September.

Somerset host Hampshire hoping to make up a two-point gap on their last opponents and clinch the runner’s up spot in Division One behind Surrey.