Croft looks for Burns to fire up Glam

GLAMORGAN head coach Robert Croft is hoping that Australian batsman Joe Burns, brought in to replace injured Shaun Marsh, will bring “much needed firepower” to the Welsh county’s Vitality Blast campaign.

Burns, who has played 14 Tests and six one-Day Internationals, will be available for Glamorgan’s 11 remaining matches, starting against Somerset in Cardiff tonight (6.30pm).

“He’ll bring expertise and experience to our team,” said Croft. “He’s a guy who’s flexible and can bat at the top or middle of the innings.”

Croft is clear on what he expects the new arrival to do – “to come in and play the way that he can, to try and hit the ground running, as it were, and not take too long to find form, but also to fit into our team, to our method.

“That’s the beauty of having experienced players and they’re more than capable of doing it.”

Burns, 28, could either open or fill the void in the middle-order left by all-rounder David Lloyd, who is expected to be out for up to three weeks with a finger injury.

“It’s brilliant to have somebody in so quickly and here for Friday night,” Croft added. “[Lloyd] injured himself at Chelmsford, and hopefully he’ll be back for the Gloucestershire match (August 3).”

With a demanding schedule over the coming week – a Championship match between two Vitality Blast clashes – Croft says that finding a replacement at short notice was vital to Glamorgan’s campaign.

“This competition comes thick and fast. We play a load of games in a short period of time and you need as many quality players available to pick from at any one time as well, so to add Joe to our squad is brilliant,” added Croft.

Although Croft concedes that his side should have beaten Sussex in the Vitality Blast, the victories over Hampshire and Essex mean that Glamorgan go into the clash against Somerset in good spirits.

He said: “I guess it’s worked its way around. Two from three? We’ll take that! It’s a sort of a local derby between us and them. I’m sure they’ll bring a few [supporters] across the bridge.”

(from) Ingram (c), Burns, Carlso, Khawaja, Donald, Salter, Cooke, Meschede, Wagg, Lawlor, Smith, Van der Gugten, Hogan.

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