Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Matthew Revis can’t wait to get the 2026 summer started.
There has been a lot of talk about the progression of the England team following the disastrous Ashes series over the winter, with it widely accepted there are Test places up for grabs for those who start the county summer well.
Newly-promoted Glamorgan versus Yorkshire, the Rothesay County Championship season opener, at Cardiff from Friday onwards certainly has a few of those hopefuls.
Glam’ opening batter Asa Tribe – aged 22 – is a name you will have heard mentioned regularly on the back of an impressive winter with the England Lions and in the SA20 competition with the Paarl Royals.
And then there are a number of Yorkshire players too.
Captain Jonny Bairstow and all-rounder Dom Bess, two experienced heads, fielded questions about their England ambitions at last week’s media day, while George Hill, Matthew Revis and James Wharton have all had Lions exposure over the last 12 months coupled with impressive county form.
There will be others not mentioned across both sides who are thinking, ‘Why not?’
It is an interesting subplot within what many of us consider the main event – Yorkshire’s hunt for success.
We have already heard – on this website – from Bairstow, Hill and head coach Anthony McGrath, all speaking of their confidence ahead of 2026.
Picture by John Clifton/SWPix.com. Matthew Revis acknowledges the applause following one of his three Championship centuries last season.
The subject of this preview, all-rounder Revis, can be added to that list.
He is convinced Yorkshire have the tools to push on from a seventh place finish last year to threaten the hierarchy of champions Nottinghamshire and pre-season favourites Surrey.
“Yeah, definitely,” he responded to that very question.
“I felt that I, personally, started the season probably slower than I wanted to last season. And that was the case for the team as a whole as well.
“So I think if we can pull ourselves together as a team in the first few rounds of the comp, then we can really pick up that momentum quicker.
“You saw how once we got that win against Essex at York, the draw against Surrey at Scarborough and then the win against Sussex, we looked a different team.
“Hopefully we can just get the ball rolling that bit quicker.
“If we can, that will only stand us in good stead.”
Picture by Dan Istitene/Getty Images. Glamorgan captain Kiran Carlson.
Glamorgan head into the season, their first in Division One since 2005, in understandably buoyant mood having won promotion last September in second place behind Leicestershire.
Coached by Richard Dawson, the former Yorkshire and England spinner, they have top-order batter Kiran Carlson as their new red-ball captain. He has replaced Sam Northeast, who has returned home to Kent.
Seamer James Harris recently retired, while they will field ex-South Africa batter Colin Ingram and New South Wales seamer Ryan Hadley as their two overseas players.
Netherlands all-rounder Logan van Beek is in line for his Yorkshire debut, so too Australian batter Sam Whiteman. This match has come too soon, however, for van Beek’s fellow overseas, the Australian quick Jhye Richardson.
We mentioned Tribe early in the piece, and Revis should have the inside track on the Jersey-born right-hander who has an impressive first-class record of 1,013 runs in 16 matches with an average of 44.04.
They toured Australia and the UAE together with the Lions either side of Christmas.
“He’s a good player,” said Revis. “You don’t get a Lions hundred in Australia against their second string side if you’re not. I’m sure he’ll be looking to have a strong start to the summer and put his name up in lights.
“But they’ll be very different conditions at Cardiff in April to those he’s experienced over the winter. We’ll certainly have our plans for him, as we will all their batters, and hopefully we can catch him cold.”
Picture by Albert Perez/Getty Images. Glamorgan opener Asa Tribe toured Australia with the England Lions this winter, alongside Matthew Revis. There is a lot of talk about Tribe potentially breaking into the Test team this summer.
Revis and Hill were Yorkshire’s standout players in last season’s Championship. The emerging all-rounders, 24 and 25 respectively, shared the members’ and players’ player-of-the-year awards for 2025.
Revis’s haul of 766 runs from 11 matches included a trio of mid-season centuries in succession, which helped spark a superb final seven games for the White Rose.
It earned him a winter away with the Lions, one in which he has seen him rack up the air miles thanks to tours of Australia and Abu Dhabi added to a training camp in India sandwiched in between.
“The training camp was just a 10-day thing,” he explained. “Fred (Andrew Flintoff, Lions head coach) took us out there. We worked with Dinesh Karthik and a couple of other Indian coaches.”
Revis then rounded things off on Yorkshire’s pre-season trip to Desert Springs last month.
“It’s been a really enjoyable winter, and plenty of learning taken from it,” he said. “I’ve probably gone through pretty much all conditions you could wish for.
“Hopefully I can take it into this season.
“I was very, very pleased with how last season went even though I would have liked to kick on a bit more towards the back end. I felt like I limped towards the finish a little bit.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. George Hill and Matthew Revis were two of Yorkshire’s standout players last season.
Now, it’s about trying to marry up form with the bat and form with the ball, the Burley-in-Wharfedale product bidding to kick on with his seamers.
And, of course, Revis this weekend heads back to a ground where he claimed his only five-wicket haul to date in first-class cricket in September 2023, a game the two counties drew.
“I think my bowling is always going to be a work in progress,” he added. “I worked a lot with Fred, Neil Killeen and Troy Cooley. Those three have been instrumental in what I’ve done, and I feel like I’m in a good place with it.”
And on the test which Glamorgan will provide this weekend, McGrath added: “Richard Dawson and Ian Harvey are both there, two very good coaches.
“Their teams are normally very well drilled. You look at the work they did with Gloucestershire and Daws with the Lions.
“I think themselves and Leicestershire will fancy their chances this year. I think Glamorgan will be a good team.
“It’s a really good start for us to show us where we’re at.
“Hopefully the weather’s kind and it’s not too wet or snowy.”
GLAMORGAN v YORKSHIRE, FIRST-CLASS CRICKET 1922-2024 STAT PACK
Note: AP is Cardiff Arms Park, SG is Sophia Gardens.
Results (home & away): County Championship: Played 117; Yorkshire won 54, Glamorgan won 13, Drawn 50. At Cardiff (SG): Played 17; Yorkshire won 6, Glamorgan won 3, Drawn 8.
Most recent results: 2024, match drawn at Headingley and Yorkshire won by 186 runs at Cardiff (SG). Most recent win by Glamorgan, 1999, by an innings and 52 runs at Headingley. At Cardiff (SG), in 1987, by 73 runs.
Most successive wins: Yorkshire 9 (1937-47); Glamorgan have never had successive wins.
Two wins in a season: Yorkshire 13 times; Glamorgan have never achieved this. Their best is two wins in three games (1953-55).
Highest innings totals: For Yorkshire, 580-9dec at Scarborough in 2001. For Glamorgan, 498 at Headingley in 1999.
Lowest innings totals: For Yorkshire, 83 at Sheffield (Bramall Lane) in 1946. For Glamorgan, 48 at Cardiff (AP) in 1924.
Highest Individual Innings: For Yorkshire 213 by MD Moxon at Cardiff (SG) in 1996. For Glamorgan, 202* by H Morris at Cardiff (SG) in 1996.
Highest wicket partnerships: For Yorkshire, 362 for the first wicket between MD Moxon (213) and MP Vaughan (183) at Cardiff (SG) in 1996. For Glamorgan, 233 for the first wicket between WE Bates (146) and AH Dyson (88) at Sheffield (Bramall Lane) in 1930. Note: Both Bates and Dyson were born in Yorkshire.
Best bowling in an innings: For Yorkshire 9-60 by H Verity at Swansea in 1930. For Glamorgan, 9-43 by JS Pressdee at Swansea in 1965.
Best bowling in a match: For Yorkshire, 15-123 (8-70 and 7-53) by R Illingworth at Swansea in 1960. For Glamorgan, 12-76 (7-30 and 5-46) by DJ Shepherd at Cardiff (AP) in 1957.
Hat-tricks: For Yorkshire, GG Macaulay at Cardiff (AP) in 1933. For Glamorgan, IJ Jones at Harrogate in 1962 and MG Neser at Headingley in 2023.
Most dismissals in an innings by a wicket-keeper: For Yorkshire 6 (5 ct, 1 st) by RJ Blakey at Cardiff (SG) in 1994 and 6 (all caught) by RJ Blakey at Headingley in 2003. For Glamorgan, 6 (all caught) by DGL Evans at Swansea in 1967.
Most dismissals in a match by wicket-keeper: For Yorkshire, 8 (all caught) by AJ Hodd in 2012 at Headingley. For Glamorgan, 8 (7 ct, 1 st) by MA Wallace in 2004 at Headingley.
Most catches in an innings by a fielder: For Glamorgan, 5 by RC Ontong at Cardiff (SG) in 1987. No instances of more than 4 for Yorkshire.
Most catches in a match by a fielder: For Yorkshire, 6 by JV Wilson at Headingley in 1951. For Glamorgan, 6 by PM Walker at Swansea in 1961 and 6 by MP Maynard at Middlesbrough in 1993.
A century and five wickets in an innings in the same match: For Yorkshire, E Robinson 124* and 9 and 5-56 and 2-41 at Swansea in 1926. No instances for Glamorgan.
100 runs and 10 wickets in the same match: For Yorkshire, GM Hamilton 149 (79 and 70) and 10-112 (5-69 and 5-43) at Cardiff (SG) in 1998. No instances for Glamorgan.
At Sophia Gardens, Cardiff…
Highest innings totals: For Yorkshire, 536-8dec in 1996. For Glamorgan, 482-7dec in 1996.
Lowest innings totals: For Yorkshire, 98 in 1973. For Glamorgan, 97 in 1973.
Highest individual scores: For Yorkshire, 213 by MD Moxon in 1996. For Glamorgan, 202* by H Morris in 1996.
Best bowling figures (innings): For Yorkshire, 8-62 by HP Cooper in 1975. For Glamorgan, 6-63 by EA Moseley in 1981.
Best bowling figures (match): For Yorkshire, 12-116 (7-42 and 5-74) by GA Cope in 1968. For Glamorgan, 8-116 (2-53 and 6-63) by EA Moseley in 1981.
Compiled by Paul Dyson, Peter Horne & Martyn Webster – members of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
