Head Coach Matt Maynard Says His Side Will Get A ‘Confidence Boost’ After Their Battling Draw Against Durham In Their Opening LV= County Championship Fixture Of The Season

By David Williams

Glamorgan head coach Matthew Maynard has a selection headache going into todays LV County Championship Division 2 match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

Marnus Labuschagne arrived in Cardiff following a successful tour to Pakistan, for Australia. Labuschagne, Michael Neser and Colin Ingram are therefore vying for the two overseas spots in the team.

Maynard has made the difficult decision to leave out the in form South African, Colin Ingram for the upcoming game at Trent Bridge. Instead he has opted to bolster the team with the World’s premier test batsman, Marnus Labuschagne.

“It’s tough for Colin Ingram who’s done a lot of preparation for the campaign” said Maynard.

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“He showed in the first innings what a class player he is. We’re fortunate we have the number one Test batsman in the world, we look forward to having him and Michael Neser hopefully fit for Trent Bridge as well.”

With Marnus Labuschagne now back in Wales, the world number 1 Test batter will slot back in at three against Nottinghamshire on Thursday, despite Colin Ingram’s fluent 87 against Durham.

Maynard’s team were able to come away with eleven points after batting out 68 overs on the final day to secure the draw.

All-rounder Andrew Salter took career-best figures of 7/45 in Durham’s innings – the best figures by a Glamorgan spinner since 1992 and Maynard was quick to praise him and the rest of the bowling attack.

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“I thought we bowled really well without much luck on day 3 but got the luck in the morning (of day 4) and that fell to Andrew salter. Brilliant to see him get a career best. His first five-fer in First Class cricket and hopefully that will set him up really well for the season.

“A big confidence boost like that, whilst being asked to do a role at the top of the innings. He has done that really well through pre-season, it didn’t work in this game, but we have to give him more of an opportunity.

“Very pleased with the determination. We got into a bit of a sticky patch. Durham were always going to come hard at us. Rushworth is a very skilled bowler and he exploited the conditions really well. We have to give a big shout out to Robin Saxton, I thought the wicket was fantastic, a really, really good early season wicket with the pace and carry it had throughout.”