Australian Test star Labuschagne excited to be back with Glam
AUSTRALIAN batsman Marnus Labuschagne will make his first appearance for Glamorgan since 2019 in the LV= Insurance County Championship match against Kent, starting in Cardiff today.
Labuschagne has been cleared to play under Welsh Government guidance. As well as his Covid checks, he must only leave his flat to visit the stadium.
He is included in a 13-man squad and said: “It’s exciting to challenge myself in different conditions that I haven’t played in for around 18 months now. I want to score as many runs as I possibly can, I want to take opportunities to get big scores, but my main concern is winning for the team and get ourselves up that ladder.
“It’s exciting to be back. I’ve come over to learn more about the game and how far I can push my game and keep getting better,”
There are four changes to the Glamorgan squad that travelled to Northampton last week with Labuschagne replacing Andy Balbirnie and Timm van de Gugten, Andrew Salter and Lukas Carey back in the squad. Nick Selman, Dan Douthwaite (heel injury) and Roman Walker drop out.
Labuschagne scored 1114 runs in 10 Championship games in his last spell at the county and demonstrated his current form hitting 192 and 112 in his last two innings as Queensland won Australia’s domestic competition, the Sheffield Shield.
Fellow overseas star Michael Neser has also landed in Wales but is ruled out due to the added strain caused by long distance travel on fast bowlers, he is expected to make his debut at Lancashire next week.
Kent have also named as 13-man squad. Nathan Gilchrist and Marcus O’Riordan are included for the first time this season in a County Championship squad.
Harry Podmore (side strain), Tim Groenewald (knee), Grant Stewart (abdomen) and Imran Qayyum (shoulder) remain unavailable through injury.
Daniel Bell-Drummond continues to skipper the side with Sam Billings featuring in the Indian Premier League.
Glamorgan (from): Lloyd, J Cooke, Labuschagne, Root, Carlson, C Cooke (capt, wk), Taylor, Salter, Harris, van der Gugten, Weighell, Carey, Hogan.
Kent (from): Bell-Drummond (capt), Cox, Crawley, Denly, Leaning, Kuhn, Robinson (wk), Stevens, Milnes, Klaasen, Cummins, Gilchrist, O’Riordan.