Glamorgan needed that win against Worcestershire under lights last Friday. I've said all along that I still consider them to be a good one-day side, but the worry was that the woeful four-day form would erode confidence in the shorter game. This result would seem to suggest that is not wholly the case.

Also pleasing for me was to see that Matthew Elliott was back at the top of the order where he belongs. The batting did not necessarily fire as well as it might, but the order had a better look to it and it will only be strengthened by Sourav Ganguly's addition in the middle order. His medium paced wobblers might come in handy too.

I see no reason why Glamorgan cannot still win the totesport League, especially when you consider their next match - this Sunday at Swansea - is against Nottinghamshire, whom they've already beaten this season and who have lost all five of their matches so far.

Middlesex look to be the form team but Glamorgan have nothing to fear from them, even though one of their overseas players seems to have learnt something from Glamorgan.

Last Saturday I watched them play down at Sussex and New Zealander Scott Styris was bowling what I would call 'Basils'. In other words, he was bowling medium paced off-cutters in the manner of Steve 'Basil' Barwick, the former Glamorgan bowler - a tactic the man from Neath, of course, learnt from the legendary Don Shepherd. Watch out for that when the Crusaders visit Cardiff in mid-July.

An absolute farce. There is no other way of describing England's first Test against Bangladesh. What really annoyed me was that England should have been playing Australia last Thursday at Lord's. That might have been more difficult for the Aussies rather than playing in mid-July when the pitches are blander and Shane Warne can wreak havoc. Imagine how their batting might have struggled on the first morning if Michael Vaughan had won the toss against them too?

But, of course, in this country we do not consider such things. Giving our side an advantage? No, that would be far too underhand in the eyes of much of the English hierarchy. Let's just make sure the sponsors and everyone else are happy before we consider the team. You can talk all you like about the marketeers dictating affairs but the best way to market the England cricket team is to make sure they are winning. Any fool knows that.

Anyway, there was one good thing to come out of the Lord's Test and that was Simon Jones' bowling. I've obviously seen him bowl a lot over the years at Glamorgan, but have never seen him swing the ball as much as he did on that first morning. He looked top quality, bowling fast away swing with admirable control. He can still bowl quicker, mind, but at the moment he is showing that he can learn and adapt after some criticism in the winter that he had forsaken his pace in order to become a more accurate, but less threatening bowler.

The one other piece of interest from the game was the news that Graham Thorpe is to take up a post with New South Wales from next January. This came as a surprise to everyone, especially the England selectors who apparently reacted with some anger.

I do not see why. It has been widely known that this is going to be his last summer, so I do not see what the fuss is about. Yes, he is struggling a little with his body, but he was doing the same last winter in South Africa, yet still managed to chisel out important runs.

England need him against Australia, because he is experienced and enjoys the type of scrap that the Aussies so like. To end on a rather sombre note, I have been saddened recently to learn of the deaths of two fine men of Gwent cricket. Firstly Alan Jones, whom I knew as an always-smiling and amiable umpire, who did so much for Usk cricket.

He had been a useful wicketkeeper/batsman before that and an energetic committee man whose work to provide such things as sight screens and nets for the club is shown in the excellent ground Usk possesses today. Our thoughts are with his wife Margaret and family.

Secondly Usk-born Phil Clift, who has passed away, aged 86. When you consider that he was involved with Glamorgan from 1936 to 1982 he can only be thought of as a legend of the club. He was a member of the 1948 championship winning side and served the club as player, coach, secretary and scorer.

What's more, a nicer chap you could not meet. We will miss both these men.