With spring in full swing, attention turns to the summer sporting calendar.

As the football and rugby seasons come to their conclusions, the cricket season, ever understated and underrated, coughs, splutters, and rumbles into gear.

Glamorgan will, for the first time, be represented by dual professional teams, as the women’s side of the club begins its first season as a semi-professional outfit.

Initially put into the second tier of the revamped women’s professional structure, Glamorgan will move up to the top county level in 2027.

“If you asked me three or four years ago, I wouldn’t have thought we would have a women’s team here at Glamorgan turning professional in two years’ time,” says Glamorgan’s head of women and girls’ cricket, Aimee Rees.

With the success of The Hundred and, in particular, Welsh Fire’s run to the final at Lord’s last season, Glamorgan are looking to use that as a springboard to future success and development of Welsh women’s cricket.

Nine senior Wales players from the old system forms the basis of the new Glamorgan squad, with 15 academy youngsters selected from Wales, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire.

“Those girls have shown incredible commitment coming in for squad sessions twice a week and one-to-one sessions, but they really want to play for Glamorgan,” adds Rees.

Coaching them will be Rachel Priest, 39, who made 162 international appearances for New Zealand and featured in the women’s Big Bash in Australia as well as the Hundred in the UK.

But two years playing county cricket for Wales helped attract Priest back to Cardiff.

“It was a real privilege to play for a county that also represented a country, and I love the people here, so it was an awesome opportunity for me to start my coaching career and be part of something brand new,” says Priest.

“What an opportunity for these girls to have a career in a sport they love.

“There’s a long way to go in the development of women’s cricket around the world but the UK has put a lot of resource into it and this new set-up is going to be really good in bringing on the next generation.”

In their first season as a semi-professional outfit, Glamorgan will play in the Metro Bank One Day Cup and T20 Blast. After two seasons in the season tier of women’s cricket, Glamorgan will be promoted to the top tier and become fully professional.

For now, though, some of the Glamorgan players’ jobs include teacher, solicitor, physio, and radiographer, as well as a number of students.

In the team’s first ever match on Saturday 19th April, they faced Sussex at Sophia Gardens. In a rain reduced match, both sides batted for 25 overs, with the Welsh county winning by 53 runs.

After a gloomy morning, Glamorgan lost the toss and were put in by the visitors. Daisy Jeanes got the home side off to a good start, scoring 35 from 28 balls, with four fours and a towering six.

However, her side were left reeling at 56-3 when Sussex’s 16-year-old spinner Eve O’Neill ripped through the Glamorgan top order.

Skipper Beth Gammon rallied her side and marshalled the middle over superbly, finishing as the last woman out in the final over, having scored 72 from 56 balls.

Her partnership of 104 with Gemma Porter – who ended with 29 – was vital.

On a bowling-friendly day, Glamorgan’s first innings score of 178-5 looked strong, and so it proved.

Sussex’s batting innings never truly got going. Wickets for Eve Jackson and all-rounder Jeanes left Sussex reeling at 79-5 and then 117-7.

Poppy Tulloch, who Glamorgan announced had signed on loan from Somerset for the season, made her debut a memorable one. The right arm seamer took the first Glamorgan wicket with a vicious in-swinger, before cleaning up the tail with three wickets to make sure of a convincing margin.

That margin may prove important later in the season, as the One Day Cup employs a bonus point system where the winning side can earn an extra point if they win with a run rate 1.25 times that of their opponent.

Glamorgan’s victory puts them fourth in the league two table, and already in a strong position to potentially make finals day in September.

Speaking to Glamorgan after the match, captain Beth Gammon was proud of her side’s opening display.

“I couldn’t have been happier with how everyone contributed and the attitude that they walked out onto the pitch with today,” Gammon says.

“We knew today was a massive day for us as Glamorgan, and in Wales, so to see how much effort and how much pride everyone had putting on the shirts for the first time. I couldn’t be prouder of everyone.”

Speaking about her own display, Gammon was pleased to score so quickly, without putting herself under pressure to score regular boundaries.

“I think I’m naturally a busy player. I like to tick over,” she adds.

“I’m really fortunate that the group of coaches and players back us and back us to do our strengths to the best of our ability. So, it’s nice to go out there and know that whatever you do, the team is backing you to do it.

“I was fortunate that the openers got us off to a really good start, and then me and Gem Porter put on a really good partnership then that almost gave us a bit of a platform to start searching for the boundary a little bit more.”

With a first win on the board, Gammon is confident that her side can make their inaugural one a success.

“The team thrives off confidence when you put in winning performances,” Gammon finishes.

“We’re going to take the positives from our first performance. We know there’s still bits that we want to refine and work on as well – and hopefully throughout the weeks and training now we put that into place.

“We will put those things right and continue to take this confidence and momentum to kick onwards. We’ll see where we end up after the first few games!”

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