Hogan Says Glamorgan Have Weathered The Storm

Michael Hogan insists Glamorgan have stabilised their rocky start to the season by earning a weather-affected draw at Derbyshire.

The Australian pace bowler blamed rain, sleet and hail for undermining any chance of victory in the Specsavers County Championship match at Derby.

But after a dreadful opening home defeat to Leicestershire, Hogan claimed Glamorgan were content with the 12 points they came away with from Derby.

“Given our performance last week, we had some things to take care of and prove that was just a mishap and they probably thought they might be able to knock us over,” he said.

“So we took it as a way to exorcise some demons. It’s a shame because the weather ruined a good game of cricket. If we had a full four days of play, it would have been a really nice game.”

Showers of rain, sleet and hail on Wednesday ended Glamorgan’s chances of securing a result, despite Hogan taking four wickets to ensure the visitors got a first innings lead.

That followed Will Bragg’s 129 on day one which had put Glamorgan into a strong position.

A violent hailstorm broke over the ground shortly after 2.25pm and turned the outfield white, leaving conditions too wet for the match to resume.

By that stage, there was little chance of anything other than a draw with Glamorgan 87-2 in their second innings, a lead of 119, with Jacques Rudolph and Chris Cooke making sure there was no late panic in the visiting dressing room.

Glamorgan head coach Robert Croft said: “We’ve seen it all. We’ve had rain, sleet, snow, hailstones and we’ve seen some good cricket.

“I think we did improve from last week (against Leicestershire) which was important. The good thing is that there’s still room for improvement again. Hopefully we can go up a notch or two again against Kent.”

Glamorgan’s next match in the Specsavers County Championship starts on Sunday against Kent at Canterbury.