Harrison delighted to be part of Glamorgan return to Newport
GLAMORGAN return to red-ball action today when they take on Gloucestershire at Spytty Park in Newport (11am start).
It will be an historic match, with Glamorgan last playing a County Championship fixture in the city 54 years ago and Newport-born assistant head coach David Harrison is thrilled at the return of first-class cricket to the city and believes the club have thoroughly deserved the opportunity to host the match.
“It’s been a good ground for a long time now and Newport have always put a lot of work in, the sun is shining and the wicket looks good,” said Harrison
“Newport is certainly as good as all the other out-grounds that we play at in the county, so everyone is looking forward to a good game over four days, and hopefully a win.
“Cardiff is our base but to bring a fixture to east Wales is fantastic. They have the infrastructure here. Hope it goes well for us and Newport and we can come back in the future.”
It will be Glamorgan’s first Championship match since early April when they secured a draw against Northants in their opening Specsavers County Championship of the season at Sophia Gardens
There is one change to the squad which faced Northants with allrounder Jeremy Lawlor replacing Kiran Carlson, who is taking exams at university, while Michael Hogan returns to the Glamorgan squad after recovering from a hamstring strain which kept him out of Glamorgan’s final Royal London OneDay Cup matches.
“It will take a bit of time to get back into that four-day tempo with bat and ball, but Gloucestershire are in the same boat,” said Harrison.
“The boys are in a good place, a lot of them played club cricket on Saturday, the spirit in the camp is good and we have trained well. We’ve got all bases covered in our team, so we are looking forward to the challenge.”
Gloucestershire have named a 13-man squad, but will be without Aussie paceman Dan Worrall, who has been ruled out for the season with a back injury.
(from) Cooke (c), Lloyd, Labuschagne, Carey, Hemphrey, Selman, Hogan, van der Gugten, de Lange, Bull, Lawlor, Root, Wagg.
Glamorgan:
(from) Dent (c), Hammond, Bracey, G Hankins, Howell, Roderick, Higgins, van Buuren, Payne, M Taylor, H Hankins, J Taylor, Drissell.
Gloucestershire: