Glamorgan going for glory in One Day Cup final

Glamorgan women are hunting a fairy tale ending as they play their final semi-professional match in Sunday's One Day Cup Women's League Two final.

They travel to Bristol to face table-topping Middlesex at the Seat Unique Stadium with the opportunity to win their second trophy of the season.

Victory would mark the perfect farewell to Tier 2 cricket as Glamorgan prepare to embark on their next chapter as a Tier 1 outfit in 2027.

"It would be a dream. It would be a nice way to finish it off. But we know the opposition that we're playing are really tough and nothing is certain in finals cricket," said Glamorgan head coach Rachel Priest.

"It would be a really lovely way to do it, but we know that it's going to be a really, really tough game."

Preparations for next season are already well under way for Priest and her staff with four current players having already signed professional contracts.

Captain Lauren Parfitt was announced as Glamorgan's first full-time female player, before swiftly being joined by Bethan Ellis, Abbey Freeborn and Bethan Gammon.

But a number of their Tier 2 regulars will not be following them, which Priest says has not been easy.

Priest added: "We've had some really difficult decisions to make, this process isn't easy, and it's professional sport, isn't it?

"There's difficult decisions to be made every day, but we have to make the decisions that we think are right for the club. We wish we could take everyone with us, but that's just not the way that it goes.

"But hopefully we've made some of the right decisions and we push forward next season and see how we go."

Glamorgan know they will need to strengthen to mix it with the best next season, and Priest has stressed the importance of recruiting players with Tier 1 experience.

"Look, we needed Tier 1 experience, and that was one thing that we spoke about before we started that recruitment process, it's really important to us," she added.

"On the flip side of that, we've recruited some really good youngsters and some not-so-youngsters that are coming up to Tier 1 with us. It is a balance, but we knew we needed some experience to help us to be really competitive moving forward."

But before they can look ahead to next season, they bid to win their second piece of silverware this season after winning the Vitality T20 Blast Women's League Two title back in July.

But Sunday's final will not be a given, they face Middlesex, who thumped Glammy by 10 wickets last time out.

Despite the daunting task ahead, Parfitt says she is proud to be captaining them again in Sunday's final as their semi-professional chapter draws to a close.

"It would be brilliant, more so for this group, it's another exciting game of cricket that can be played for us to show off our skill sets. I'm really proud to lead the group into the final next week," said Parfitt.

"We set ourselves high standards. Obviously, there'll be some people in the group that might not get the opportunity next season. So it'll hopefully be a really nice way to finish off this season and do it for them as well."

Parfitt is one of the players that will take the plunge into professional sports for the first time in 2027, taking a sabbatical from her job as a PE teacher at Bassaleg School in Newport to focus on cricket.

She insists the decision to accept Glamorgan's contract offer was an easy one, doubting that she would ever get the opportunity to play cricket professionally as a child.

"It was a definitely the case of biting their hand off. I said as an 11 year old, I didn't think being a professional cricketer would ever be a thing in my cricketing career. So when that opportunity came about, it was a very easy yes," said Parfitt.

"I've been supported and I can't thank people enough for their support, particularly in school. It's taken a long time to get there.

"To actually say next year I'll officially be a professional cricketer is really exciting and something that we're all really proud of."