Maynard urges Glam batsmen to believe in themselves

GLAMORGAN head coach Matt Maynard will be hoping his batsmen can provide a confidenceboosting T20 performance against Northampton today after suffering 13-run defeat to Birmingham Bears on Friday night.

Maynard admitted his team are lacking a little self-belief in the Vitality Blast stakes at the moment but an improved display against the in-form Steelbacks, who have won four of their six group games to date, would go a long way to restoring some faith among his line-up

Glamorgan had reached 129-8 in response to the hosts’ 142-9 on a tricky surface and despite the conditions being less than ideal, Maynard pulled few punches in his assessment of where his team are at.

“It was probably about confidence, we had a good start then lost a couple of wickets including Lloyd, who was bouncing on his return, and then the skipper (Chris Cooke) hit Bresnan to mid-off,” he said

“When you’re chasing 180 you have to keep going, when you’re chasing 140 you can keep going or try to rebuild, they tried to do that (rebuild) but then we lost a couple more wickets.

“It’s about confidence – you have to trust in your game. It’s disappointing because we bowled well again.”

This will be the first time since July 2013 that Glamorgan and the Steelbacks have met at Cardiff in the T20 competition.

Northants won on that occasion by six wickets after David Willey had claimed 3/17 with Mohammad Azharullah also taking 4/16 to stifle Glamorgan’s ambitions of posting a sizeable total after Chris Cooke had posted a combative half-century.

In reply, Cameron White made an brilliant unbeaten 71 to guide the Steelbacks to their target with nine balls in hand.

Meanwhile the county have been boosted by the news Lukas Carey has signed a new two-year deal which will keep him at the club until at least the end of the 2022 season.

The 23-year-old Glamorgan pathway product has been one of the mainstays of the club’s bowling attack since he first burst on to the scene as a 19-year-old in 2016 when he took match figures of 7/151 on debut against Northamptonshire at Swansea.

Over the course of his career he has played 29 first-class matches for the club, taking 80 wickets at an average just above 34.

Carey made his List A and T20 debut in 2017 and has gone on to play 18 List A and nine T20 matches for the club.

On signing his new contract, Carey said: “I’m really happy to sign a new contract with my boyhood club.”