Glamorgan captain David Lloyd believes his side’s thumping record victory over Northamptonshire suggests they are capable of mounting a promotion challenge this season.
The Welsh county’s away win on Wednesday – by an innings and 143 runs – was their best winning margin in County Championship cricket since 1967 and it lifted them to the top of the Division Two table.
Michael Hogan and Marchant de Lange were the bowlers who did the damage as they ripped through the Northants second innings – reducing them from 146 for 3 to 195 all out.
It was Glamorgan’s most emphatic victory for 52 years, when they defeated Kent at Sophia Gardens by an innings and 157 runs.
“It’s nice to be on the other side of results like that because we had a few games last season when we were on the losing side,” said Lloyd.
“The lads know how to win games at the moment and to grind out results like the draw with Sussex last week when we could quite easily have folded.
“We’re not thinking that far ahead (about a promotion bid), we’re keeping to our plans and disciplines, but when it comes to that point of the season, hopefully we’ll be there or thereabouts. If we stick to what we’re doing, there’s no reason why not.”
Tom Cullen scored a career best 63 and took seven catches in the match to help propel Glamorgan towards success.
Lloyd added: “Hogan and de Lange are the spearheads of our attack, and to see them come out after lunch with a relatively old ball on what was still a good batting wicket and to blow them away like that was awesome, a great sign of things to come.
“I just want to keep contributing to wins like this, we work hard on our catching as a team and hopefully we can just keep going from here.”
De Lange and Hogan took three wickets in the opening 41 minutes of the day, before a further four in the 40 minutes after lunch settled the contest.
The home side were eventually bowled out for 195 just over an hour into the afternoon session.
Hogan finished with 4 for 32 and de Lange 3 for 61 to bowl Glamorgan to their second victory of the season, this for a maximum 24 points, and their first triumph by an innings since 2014.
Northants coach David Ripley said: “I thought we were going to save the game.
“It was a good pitch but Glamorgan have played very well. In the first innings there were some poor shots but today was different. We’ve lost by a heavy margin but no-one has given it away.”
Glamorgan 547 (Root 229, Cullen 63) beat Northamptonshire 209 (Rossington 77) and 195 (Curran 52, Hogan 4-32, de Lange 3-61) by an innings and 143 runs.