Richard Dawson spoke today of the positives he’s seen since joining Glamorgan County Cricket Club. And now, with pre-season over and our opening Championship four day match against Leicestershire in less than 24 hours, the Men’s Team Head Coach shared his reflections on season match preparations at Sophia Gardens.
“It’s been very good – a very good pre-season,” he said. “The weather has been kind to us and we’ve had some amazing sun.
“We had two games, one against Worcester for three days and one the three days versus Cardiff UCCE. We’ve managed to get the lads out bowling, obviously – and getting miles under our legs in the field. And also some time at the crease for the batsmen.
“The other thing is, we’ve had good pitches to train on as well, so the ground staff have provided us with everything we needed leading into the build-up for this first game.
“It’s been good to get as much time outside as possible. Not just the batsmen but also getting the bowlers out to get their spells in. Just being able to prepare as close as possible to what you’re going to get in the matches. So that’s been ideal. We’ve not had to go back indoors once in the last two and half, three weeks.”
Along with getting to know his new squad, Richard has also been taking time with red ball captain, Sam Northeast.
Speaking of their developing relationship, he said, “When I first came five or six weeks ago, I’ve been getting to know Sam. Just having conversations around the lads as well. Then, leading into these last few games in the pre-season matches, just talking to him about his own game and making sure he’s being looked after.
“And then also, just starting to delve a bit deeper into the tactics and strategy of how we want to go about the cricket. So it’s been great to get to know him, to start working and just continuing those conversations as we get started.”
Finally, speaking of the mix of seasoned pro’s, developing youngsters and new additions Bashir and Fernando,Richard added, “Bringing international players into your side brings energy and raises standards. So it’s great to have those two involved. I’m looking forward to seeing them adding something to our bowling units over the next few weeks.
“It’s also great to have young boys come in and pushing the senior boys. That’s what we want – we want people to come in scoring runs, putting pressure on and challenging the senior players; bringing their own energy as well.
“It was great to see it last week in the UCCE game. Our own rooking lads scoring runs, taking wickets and catches behind the stumps. So that was very pleasing.”