This time last year, Glamorgan fans were drowning their sorrows in London after Glamorgan`s defeat in the 2000 Benson and Hedges Cup final at Lord`s. A year later, June 9th and 10th, 2001 saw the champagne corks popping at Chelmsford after two of the most stunning victories in the club`s history, as the Welsh county`s batsmen rewrote many of the club`s batting records with two breathtaking runchases against Essex.

On Saturday, Glamorgan successfully chased a target of 364 in 84 overs, reaching the target with nineteen balls to spare, thanks to 156 from captain Steve James and 90 from Matthew Maynard.

Their efforts resulted in Glamorgan equalling their record for their highest ever successful run chase in Championship history. In June 1990, they were set the same target by Hampshire, and thanks to a brutal century by Viv Richards, Glamorgan reached the target in the final over.

But in this match at Southampton, the Welsh side had 102 overs in which to chase the target, 18 more than on Saturday at Chelmsford, and the run chase against Hampshire only came about after most of the second day had been washed out by rain, and the two captains had got their heads together on the final morning in an attempt to breath life in to the game.

A month later, in July 1990 at Abergavenny, Glamorgan were involved in another huge run chase on the final day of their game against Worcestershire. Their target was 495 in 88 overs, and after centuries by Alan Butcher and Hugh Morris, plus half-centuries by Robert Croft and Nigel Cowley, Glamorgan fell just two runs short of their target in a nerve-jangling contest that ended in a draw.

Looking now at yesterday`s remarkable National League game at Chelmsford, Glamorgan defeated Essex after being set a target of 254 in 34 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method. An aggressive 97 by Keith Newell, plus an unbeaten 87 from Matthew Maynard saw the Welshmen home, with thirteen balls to spare.

This was not Glamorgan`s highest ever score batting second in the competition, as in 1992 they scored 263-3 to defeat Northamptonshire at Luton. But in this game, the Welsh county had 38 overs at their disposal, making yesterday`s victory at Chelmsford a superior one in terms of runs per over, as they chased a target of 7.47 runs per over, compared with 6.92 at Luton.

Their previous best one-day victory in terms of run rate came at Northampton in May 1998, once again after rain and a re-calculation using the Duckworth-Lewis method. Glamorgan`s target was 174 in 24 overs, at an asking rate of 7.25, and a cavalier 77 by Tony Cottey off just 42 balls saw Glamorgan home by five wickets with three balls to spare.

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