Head Coach Matt Maynard has named a 13-man squad for Glamorgan's season opener against Gloucestershire
The Welsh county faces their cross-bridge rivals in the first LV= County Championship fixture of the summer at Sophia Gardens.
After falling agonisingly short of promotion last season, our side looks to get off to a flyer in their opening gambit and face a stern test in Gloucestershire.
The men from Bristol were relegated from Division One of the County Championship last year and will have a point to prove when they make their trip to Cardiff.
Glamorgan had a successful pre-season tour of Zimbabwe, winning five games out of five, and barring the slip-up against Cardiff UCCE, have been in fine form heading into another action-packed season.
Seamer Harry Podmore is in contention to make his competitive debut for Glamorgan after his summer signing from Kent, whilst Colin Ingram will remain in the top-order as we await the arrival of Marnus Labuschagne.
We will be without overseas stars Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser, with both Australians arriving the week after the opening fixture of the summer.
View from the camp - David Lloyd
"We’re so excited to be starting the season at home in Cardiff, it feels like the perfect place to get our campaign off to a great start.
“The boys have had a very good pre-season with the bowlers getting plenty of miles in the legs and the batters spending time at the crease. We are ready and raring to go.
"Gloucestershire will pose a tough challenge having just come down from Division One, but we know a good performance against them will set us up for what we hope will be a fruitful season.”
Head-to-head - Glamorgan vs Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire have won three of their last four games at Cardiff, with the West country side being victorious by ten wickets in 2021, despite Hamish Rutherford and David Lloyd sharing an opening stand of 136. The game though swung in Gloucestershire’s favour thanks to 71, plus 3/44 from all-rounder Tom Price and a second innings haul of 6/43 by Zafar Gofar as the Welsh county were dismissed for 124.
Gloucestershire were also the victors at Cardiff in 2018 with Craig Miles – now with Warwickshire – taking eight wickets and Jack Taylor posting 112. The contest between the two teams in 2017 proved to be a high-scoring draw with Kiran Carlson scoring a superb 191 as he came within nine runs of being both the Club’s youngest centurion and double-centurion.
Glamorgan’s most recent victory against Gloucestershire in four-day cricket at Cardiff came in 2013 as the home side won by eight wickets with Jim Allenby taking 4/16, having also posted 85. Chris Cooke and Murray Goodwin also registered half-centuries to set up what was the fourth successive victory on Welsh soil for Glamorgan against the West Country side, as they had defeated Gloucestershire by 26 runs at Swansea in 2012, as well as at Cardiff in 2011 by 189 runs, and in 2010 by an innings and 4 runs.
This is the opening first-class game of the season for the Glamorgan team, and it is likely to be a memorable one for Timm van der Gugten who goes into the match with 199 first-class wickets to his name for the Welsh county.
How to watch
A live stream will be in operation throughout and will be able to watch on the Glamorgan website via the match centre with commentary from Nick Webb and colleagues.
The match will also be covered on our social media channels, with updates, highlights, and reports throughout the game.