Welsh Fire ( cy, Tân Cymreig) are a franchise

100-ball cricket 100-ball cricket is a short form of cricket designed to attract new audiences to the game with simplified rules, which was originally created by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for its new city-based competition The Hundred. The 10 ...

side based in the city of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. The team represents the historic counties of

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in the newly founded competition called The Hundred, which took place for the first time during the 2021 English and Welsh cricket season. Both the men's and women's teams play their home games at

Sophia Gardens Sophia Gardens ( cy, Gerddi Sophia) is a public park in Riverside, Cardiff, Wales, on the west bank of the River Taff. International test cricket matches and county cricket matches are held in the Sophia Gardens cricket ground, the home of Gl ...

in Cardiff.

History

Fosters Grandstand, Sophia Gardens - Cardiff - geograph-5953810-by-Dr-Zo-Hoare

Welsh Fire was founded in June 2019 as one of eight teams to take part in the inaugural season of The Hundred. The team was jointly run by

and

County Cricket Clubs. It was reported that the side might be renamed as Western Fire, to allay concerns in Somerset and Gloucestershire that they were not sufficiently represented by the side, but this did not come to fruition. In July 2019, the team announced that former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

coach, and current

Royal Challengers Bangalore Royal Challengers Bangalore (often abbreviated as RCB) are a franchise cricket team based in Bangalore, Karnataka, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was founded in 2008 by United Spirits and named after the company's liquor b ...

coach

Gary Kirsten Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. He has coached the Indian Cricket Team as well as the South African Cricket team. Kirsten played 101 Test matches and 185 One Day Internationals for So ...

had been appointed as the men's team coach. The women's side was due to be managed by

Matthew Mott Matthew Peter Mott (born 3 October 1973) is an Australian cricket coach and a former first-class cricketer. He is the former coach of the Australian Women's Cricket Team. He currently coaches the England men's white-ball cricket team. Playing c ...

, a former Glamorgan coach and the current Australia women's team coach, but he withdrew and was replaced by his assistant coach, Mark O'Leary. The inaugural Hundred draft took place in October 2019 and saw the Fire claim

Jonny Bairstow Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for England in all formats. In domestic cricket, he represents Yorkshire, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Sunrisers Hy ...

as their headline men's draftee, and Katie George as the women's headliner. They are joined by Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman

Tom Banton Thomas Banton (born 11 November 1998) is an English cricketer. He made his international debut for the England cricket team in November 2019. Domestic and franchise career Banton made his Twenty20 cricket debut for Somerset in the 2017 NatWest ...

, Glamorgan batsman

Colin Ingram Colin Alexander Ingram (born 3 July 1985) is a South African cricketer who currently plays for Glamorgan. He represented South Africa in One Day (ODI) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) between 2010 and 2013, scoring a century on his ODI debut ...

, and England batter

Bryony Smith Bryony Frances Smith (born 12 December 1997) is an English cricketer who plays for Surrey, South East Stars and Trent Rockets. A right-handed batter who bowls off spin, she made her county debut for Surrey in 2014. She has played three T20Is an ...

. Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc were selected as the flagship £125,000 signings in the first round and are two of the side's three overseas players. With Ingram and Banton already occupying the £100,000 slots, Welsh Fire sat out the second round. Ravi Rampaul and Ben Duckett were selected in the third round for £75,000 and Simon Harmer, along with Afghanistan's Qais Ahmed (the team's third overseas player), were bought for £60,000 in the fourth. Liam Plunkett and Ryan ten Doeschate were the picks in the fifth round for £50,000 and Gloucestershire duo David Payne and Ryan Higgins were selected in the sixth round for £40,000. Danny Briggs and Leus du Plooy complete the squad, having both been bought for £30,000 in the final round. The final place in the squad will go to an outstanding performer in next season's Vitality Blast 20-over competition. Australian Meg Lanning was the next pick for the ladies' team.

Honours

Men's honours

The Hundred *7th place: 2021 (highest finish)

Women's honours

The Hundred *8th place: 2021, 2022 (highest finish)

Ground

Both the Fire men's and women's sides play at the home of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, Sophia Gardens Cricket Ground, in the west of

Cardiff city centre Cardiff city centre ( cy, Canol Dinas Caerdydd) is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bound by the River Taff to the west, the Civic Centre to the north and railway lines and two railway sta ...

. The women's side had been due to play some matches at Gloucestershire's

Bristol County Ground The Bristol County Ground (also known as Nevil Road and currently known as the Seat Unique Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a senior cricket venue in Bristol, England. It is in the district of Ashley Down. The ground is home to Gloucestershir ...

and Somerset's

County Ground, Taunton The County Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as Cooper Associates County Ground, and nicknamed Ciderabad, is a cricket ground in Taunton, Somerset. It is the home of Somerset County Cricket Club, who have played there since 1882. The ground ...

but both teams were brought together at the same ground as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Players

Current squad

Men's side

* Bold denotes players with international caps. * denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season.

Men's captains

Women's side

* Bold denotes players with international caps. * denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season.

Seasons

Group stages

References

External links

Official web page at Glamorgan Cricket Club
{{Cricket in England Glamorgan County Cricket Club The Hundred (cricket) teams Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club Cricket in Gloucestershire Cricket in Somerset Cricket in Glamorgan Sport in Cardiff 2019 establishments in Wales Welsh Fire