Comment: I have long held the belief Glamorgan cricket has been patronised by the establishment

It is now almost two weeks since the Surrey coach, Dave Gilbert, offered up a remark that caused no small amount of consternation west of the Severn Bridge and for which he should have been called to account by the cricket authorities.

Upset by Glamorgan's decision to settle for maximum bonus points from a draw at The Oval that consolidated their challenge for the County Championship and put paid to Surrey's aspirations, Gilbert said: "It was outrageous that they gave up the chance [of outright victory] so early. It had all the makings of a great finish. If they are going to play like that they can't expect too many favours when we play Kent."

If it was only natural for Gilbert to be disappointed, there was no excuse for remarks made in the full knowledge that Surrey's performance in the match presently taking place at Canterbury would probably be as important to Glamorgan's hopes of becoming champions as the effort called for in their final match against Somerset at Taunton.

Far from regretting a pretty obvious indiscretion, one that would surely have caused eyebrows to be raised in other sporting circles, Gilbert went even further this week, stating a preference for Kent on the basis of his belief that they have a more positive attitude than the Welsh county.

This suggested that Gilbert, an Australian who will leave Surrey when his contract expires at the end of this month, does not always engage his brain before entering into conversation.

Are Surrey - who were without four injured players including their captain, Adam Hollioake, and the England batsman Graham Thorpe - straining every sinew at Canterbury, where they were bowled out for 124 in their first innings yesterday? A question for cricket officialdom is how does it look upon Gilbert's remarks, which if attributed to a football coach in similar circumstances would have led to serious repercussions.

Going back many years, longer than it is comfortable to remember, I have shared with any number of compatriots the belief that Glamorgan cricket, which happens to be one of the best supported, has been patronised by the establishment, especially by representatives of that class-conscious domain, the Home Counties.

Glamorgan are not alone with the appendage "unfashionable", whatever that means, but a view held with some justification in Wales is that far from being familiar with the Severn Bridge toll charges, there are England selectors who are in ignorance of its construction.

There is the case of Steve James, named Cricketer of the Year this week by his fellow professionals, who was passed over for England's winter tour of the West Indies despite being the season's leading run scorer and top of the batting averages. The theory that James' preference for the off-side would be a drawback in the Caribbean does not entirely remove a suspicion of bias.

No Glamorgan cricketer was treated more disgracefully than the gifted opening batsman Gilbert Parkhouse, who suffered from curious selections during the 1950 Ashes series in Australia, losing his place to a stodgy amateur left- hander, J G Dewes of Middlesex. Alan Jones, who according to many good judges was better equipped technically to succeed at Test level than many a predecessor, was never called upon again after turning out for England in 1970 against the Rest of the World.

After leading Glamorgan to their second championship in 1969, Tony Lewis went on to captain England in India, but Glamorgan players have not been given much chance to prove themselves internationally. Two members of today's team, Matthew Maynard and Hugh Morris, were given only a handful of matches.

As a boy in 1948, the season of Glamorgan's first championship, I saw Allan Watkins play in the Fifth Test against Australia at The Oval. A brilliant all-rounder whose catching at short-leg fell into the miraculous category, he was pressed into service as an opening bowler for a match in which England were dismissed for just 52 in their first innings. Some opportunity!

Later that year, Watkins caught Dudley Nourse brilliantly to win a Test against South Africa in Johannesburg but, predictably, some of you may think, he did not have a long Test career. Apart from Robert Croft, who appeared in five of the six Tests against Australia and will go with England to the West Indies, hardly any Glamorgan players have been given a proper chance to prove themselves.

It is not often these days that I find myself concerned about the outcome of a sports event, but it will please me no end if Glamorgan succeed in taking another swipe at the establishment.