Former Tallangatta star James Weighell has won the Royal London Cup with Glamorgan

The 27-year-old Englishman helped Glamorgan win its first ever knockout competition last week, beating Durham by 58 runs in the Royal London One-Day Cup final at Trent Bridge.

Weighell made a lasting impression on Cricket Albury-Wodonga during three spells with the Bushies but he revealed the door to a career in professional cricket might have shut on him were it not for his premiership-winning performance in 2014-15.

"The year before, I got released by Durham," Weighell said.

"I had a string of back injuries so we came to an agreement they couldn't keep me on because I wasn't playing.

"Things had come to a standstill and it wasn't working out so I decided, off my own back, to get in contact with Jon Thomas at Tallangatta.

"I asked if I could come back over and he said they were happy to have me.

"I managed to get back fit and bowling and that was the year we won the premiership with Tallangatta.

"It was an amazing season to do that, after being out for most of the season in England.

"Off the back of that, I had conversations with Durham because they'd heard good reports of me from Australia.

"I managed to slowly build back up with them and ended up making my First Class debut when I wasn't actually contracted.

"It was all off the back of managing to get to Australia, proving my fitness, bowling a lot of overs and taking some wickets and putting a string of performances together.

"If I hadn't gone to Australia. I'd have probably had to look for a different career.

"I could have been doing anything for the last five or six years.

"It's strange, when you think about it, how things work out."

Weighell blasted 15 off 12 balls in the final before claiming a wicket and two catches as Glamorgan proved too strong for a Durham side which included Cameron Bancroft.

"It was incredible, by far the most emotional and pleasurable I've experienced," he said.

"We didn't expect anything going into the competition and even going into the final, we were underdogs with Durham playing a full-strength side.

"They hadn't really lost any batsmen to The Hundred, which a lot of teams had, and on paper they were the strongest side in the competition.

"It was an unreal feeling to win.

"We never really believed until the last wicket fell so it was just a massive burst of emotion.

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"I still get support from Australia and hope to get back there one day," he added.

"Everybody asks me why I didn't go to Melbourne or Sydney but if I had my time again, I wouldn't do anything different.

"I loved Tallangatta and the people there."

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