Welsh Fire urged to do Wales proud in The Hundred

The men's team tour the Principality Stadium and receive a pep talk from former international rugby player Jamie Roberts as they attempt to unite ahead of the competition

The Hundred 2021: Men's team guide - Welsh Fire

Jamie Roberts likened the challenge of The Hundred to the current British & Irish Lions tour after he gave the new Welsh Fire team a lesson in what it means to represent Wales. 

The Hundred – a new 100-ball cricket competition – began this week with Cardiff-based Welsh Fire one of eight new teams created. 

All eight teams have men’s and women’s sides and, like Warren Gatland’s Lions in South Africa, face the challenge of coming together in a short space of time to bid for success. 

Welsh Fire’s men’s side contains cricketers from Wales, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Afghanistan and the team has been keen to embrace the fact they are representing Wales. 

On Tuesday (July 20), they had a tour of Principality Stadium – the home of Welsh rugby – before being given a pep talk by former Wales and Lions centre Roberts at Sophia Gardens.  

“This whole concept of a draft system and players coming together is very representative of playing for Wales in rugby and the Lions as well,” Roberts said. 

“The guys will be together for six or seven weeks with the common goal of winning. It’s all about coming together, bouncing ideas off each other, and going out and competing.

“I love the concept. I’m going to come down and watch Welsh Fire give it their best shot at The Hundred and for these guys it’s great for them to be playing in Cardiff. 

“Hopefully they do us proud. Wales is an amazing country to represent.” 

England stars Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton and Liam Plunkett, New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham and Glenn Phillips and South African’s Lungi Ngidi are just some of the international stars in the Welsh Fire men’s side. Both Welsh Fire’s men’s and women’s sides will play their home games at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens. Their first game is away to Northern Superchargers on Saturday (July 24) before they play in the Welsh capital against Southern Brave on Tuesday (July 27). 

^{Roberts later gave the Welsh Fire squad a pep talk at Sophia Gardens}

“I’ve got such fond memories of Sophia Gardens and coming down to watch big matches here,” said Roberts. “I was down here for the first Ashes Test in 2009 which was a huge moment. 

“It’s an amazing place for cricket. Hopefully, we’ll have a big crowd in after lockdown to watch the boys do a job.” 

Welsh Fire fast bowler Plunkett, who was part of England’s World Cup-winning side in 2019, said: “I like Cardiff and we’ve been successful with England here, but it’s nice to feel the Welsh passion and we spoke to some greats of the Welsh game at Principality Stadium. It’s a great stadium. 

“It was a good chat to listen to the stories of guys like Jamie. 

“I watch international rugby when England play, but it’s not something I watch all the time so it was nice to get an insight into those guys and their profession.”

Images courtesy of Huw Evans