Ingram ready to Blast away blues for Glam
COLIN Ingram insists Glamorgan can build on the promise they showed in last summer’s NatWest T20 Blast as they launch their short-form campaign against Hampshire in the SSE Swalec in Cardiff this evening (6.30pm).
With the South African blaster in sensational form, the Welsh county booked a home quarter-final in 2016, only to be crushed by a powerful Yorkshire outfit in the knockout stages.
Much of the same team is around again as Glamorgan make a welcome return to white-ball cricket and Ingram is hoping they can continue in a similar vein.
“We played an exciting brand of cricket which was really encouraging and when guys got into good form they took advantage of it and put in consistent performances,” said Ingram.
“We also we built exciting combinations and a lot of those faces are around this season.
“It’s about bouncing off last season and showing supporters and ourselves how good we can be again.
“There’s a lot of belief and hopefully we can be right up there like last year.”
Ingram was one of the stars of last summer’s tournament, racking up 502 runs, which included a century, four fifties and a record-equalling 29 sixes.
He will be key to Glamorgan’s ambitions once again, with skipper Jacques Rudolph hoping his compatriot’s pyrotechnics will be complemented by big displays from rising Welsh talent.
“With the batting, we played with quite a bit of freedom, Colin had an unbelievable season, he’s been a big player for us and hopefully he can repeat what he did last year,” said Rudolph, who has reclaimed the captaincy for this competition after being replaced by Michael Hogan for Championship cricket.
“But it’s also very important for the club to bring the Welsh players through; Aneurin Donald has always been someone who is a great prospect in the T20 format.
“David Lloyd will come into the mix as well as Kiran Carlson and Andrew Salter.” Glamorgan (from): Rudolph (capt), Lloyd, Ingram, Donald, Carlson, Cooke (wk), Wagg, Salter, Morgan, Meschede, de Lange, van der Gugten, Hogan.