GLAMORGAN aim to edge closer to a festive day out in London tomorrow when they take on Derbyshire at Sophia Gardens in the C&G Trophy fourth round.

The last time the Welsh county were at Lord's in a big showpiece finale was in the Benson and Hedges Cup final against Gloucestershire in 2000 when they lost by seven wickets.

And, although the day-to-day stuff of county cricket has to take precedence for players aspiring to get into the England Test squad, the one-day affairs are real icing on the cake, particularly when a side gets to Lord's.

Chepstow-based all-rounder Adrian Dale said: "The four-day competition is very important, especially for those people who are trying to get recognised and play test match cricket.

"But even though you might not get it from many players, there are a lot of them who love playing in front of a packed Lord's.

"In football talks, the C&G is like the Cup. The Championship is similar to the football championship. The cup is not the most important thing but it's important to the players because they love it.

"There's no doubt that a good cup run is a financial bonus to the club and there's no doubt that the chief executive (Mike Fatkin) would like that but the pinnacle is Test cricket and the four day game."

Derbyshire, though, will be a real handful for Glamorgan even though the Welsh county are enjoying a lot of success in the limited overs competitions so far.

Glamorgan are unbeaten in four out of four National League games so far and won their previous C&G match when beating the Durham Board XI.

However, Derbyshire have already visited Sophia Gardens in the county championship, with the game ending in a draw.

And Dale admits that the English side boast three particular key men that could cause big problems tomorrow.

He added: "There are three names particularly in the Derbyshire side who are key for them - Shahid Afridi (Pakistan all-rounder), Dominic Cork (former England seam bowler) and Michael Di Venuto (Australian), who is an opening bat and has been in fantastic form.

"But we are going into it full of confidence. It's a massive game and it's a bit different than going into a national league game because it's sudden death."