History 2 of 3

2. History 2


JAMES HARRIS
James Harris Further to the honours gained by James Harris and reported in last year's Membership Book, during 2007 James continued his magnificent progress by gaining the following honours James became the youngest ever bowler in the history of the County Championship to take ten wickets in a match, as he returned match figures of 12/118 against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Aged just 17 years and 3 days, he took 7/66 in the home team's first innings, before a return of 5/52 when the West Country side batted again. In terms of all first-class cricket in the U.K., the only younger bowler to take ten wickets in a match was the legendary W.G.Grace who, in June 1865, returned the match figures of 13/84 for the Gentlemen of the South against the Players of the South at the Oval. James's return of 12/118 was also the best by a Glamorgan bowler on Gloucestershire soil, beating the 12/120 taken by Frank Ryan at Cheltenham in 1926.Earlier in the season, he had become the Welsh county's youngest-ever player to take a wicket in County Championship cricket, and then later in June, fell just 13 runs short of being the youngest ever centurion in the history of the County Championship. He also had the unique distinction of taking a wicket with the first ball he bowled in First-Class cricket at both St Helens and Sophia Gardens.
After completing his G.C.S.E's in 2006, James played for the Glamorgan 1st XI in their Twenty20 Floodlit Cup matches against Sussex, and then whilst undertaking his sixth form studies at Gorseinon College, Harris was called up by the county for their pre-season matches in 2007, following injuries to David Harrison and with Simon Jones still completing his rehabilitation from injury.
Following spells in the one-day contests against Sussex and Worcestershire, Harris was called up again in early May to make his first-class debut in the county's match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. With his fourteenth delivery, he dismissed Bilal Shafayat, and - at 16 years and 351 days old - duly became
Glamorgan's youngest ever wicket-taker in County Championship cricket.
His record-breaking performance then followed at Bristol, just days after his 17th birthday, and then in June at Swansea, James displayed his prowess with the bat, scoring 87* against Nottinghamshire at Swansea and sharing in a record-breaking stand for the 9th wicket with Robert Croft that saw him come within 13 runs of being the youngest ever centurion in the history of the County Championship.
Later in the summer, James made his debut for the England U19 side, as well as winning a series of awards, both with Glamorgan as well as nationally, including the BBC Wales Young Sportsman of the year and being short listed for the BBC TV Young Sports Personality of the Year award for 2007
The year ended with James being selected to travel to India as part of the England Performance Programme and to tour Sri Lanka in early 2008 prior to moving on to Malaysia for the Under 19's World Cup.
Daniel Roberts Daniel Roberts has also progressed magnificently, adding to the honours achieved during 2006. During 2007 he played in the series for the England Under 15s against the England Under 17s taking 7wickets in 3 games, including 4 for 37. He was the leading wicket taker during the West of England U 15s tour of the West Indies, taking 10 wickets.

DANIEL ROBERTS
Daniel also represented Wales U15s and U16s, the Glamorgan Academy and Glamorgan U17s.For his Club, Daniel took 22 wickets and was selected the Club's Player of the Year and its Most Improved Player for 2007.
Daniel has also been selected to tour the West Indies with The South Wales Cricket Association, together with his Club colleagues Matthew Roberts (brother!) and Ashley Pass in 2009.
We wish all these talented Pontarddulais cricketers continuing success in their careers and many successful seasons wherever they play their cricket.