Hugh Morris Predicts Glamorgan Revival Could Take Years . . . And Then Some

Hugh Morris has suggested it could take over a decade for Glamorgan to turn their fortunes around after another woeful season.

The Welsh county actually finished their Championship campaign with a victory over Leicestershire on Wednesday, but their chief executive and director of cricket admits it was scant consolation following a campaign that would rival any for recurring failure on the field.

Glamorgan won just two out of 14 matches in the County Championship Division Two and finished bottom of the pile.

They won seven of 14 games in the T20 Vitality Blast, and just one out of eight in the Royal London One Day Cup – failing to make it out of the group stages in both of the one day tournaments.

Morris has already decided raking through the debris on their own this time, just won’t cut it so he has declared there will be an external and independent review of the campaign.

That scrutiny will also look at whether Morris himself should be doing an administrative role as well as a cricket role at the same time.

But the former England opener has also said the current situation of playing raw, inexperienced players could take a long time to bear fruit and has likened it to the situation in 35 years ago when he first came into the team.

“When I started in the early 1980s we had some challenging years until we identified some players who would become successful Glamorgan cricketers,” said Morris.

“Developing players takes a long period of time. Some of these players are in their late teens, early 20s who I believe are going to be really successful cricketers. In the mid-1980s we were playing with 30 somethings and losing.

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“I am a passionate Welshman. I was fortunate to play in the 1997 championship winning team that was 85 per cent Welsh.

“That is the long-term dream. We have some holes we need to fill at the moment.

“We are going to leave stone unturned to make sure we have a cricket team here in Glamorgan that makes our country proud. That is our ultimate aim and that is what we will be seeking to do.”

Apart from Morris’s role, possible changes to head coach Robert Croft’s coaching staff will also be discussed.

Croft, however, maintained that his staff constantly challenged each other, dismissing suggestions of the unit being too comfortable.

“I have heard that accusation a number of times,” said Morris. “All of them are highly-qualified coaches who have had different experiences.

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“We have had a desperately disappointing season, especially results in the Championship in the second half of the season and we can’t sugar coat that and the fans recognise that.

“We decided at the beginning of the year that the strategy was going to play a lot of our young talent. They were going to play around some pillars of experience of Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja and Marchant De Lange.

“Through injuries and international call-ups we have not had those pillars. It has been a real challenge for some of those youngsters and there are too many in the team playing at the moment. We hope they are going to gain experience by playing first team level but we clearly have to look at supplement our resources.”

Croft has said that every player that Glamorgan currently have on their staff is going to be with the county again next season.

“It’s important that we recruit well and bolster what we have – not to play instead of, but to bolster and create higher performance.

“I welcome the review. It’s an opportunity for me to put the facts on the table and give them the opportunity to summarise how it’s been.”