Glamorgan travel to Gloucestershire’s historic College ground Cheltenham to complete their block of six successive Championship games and requiring a return to winning ways.
The Welsh county’s form after an indifferent start to 2017 had extended to five games unbeaten in all formats after a positive end to the Royal London One Day Cup, followed by back-to-back draws including a rearguard effort against league leaders Nottinghamshire and then victories over Durham and Worcestershire.
However, after defeat to Durham and last week to Derbyshire in the floodlit red ball fixture they’ve been brought back to earth with a bump.
Championship captain Hogan has demanded an improvement from his team in the coming days at Cheltenham, which has been a happy hunting ground over the last decade or more.
“We’ve practiced hard this week and we’re going to turn up at Cheltenham ready to play,” said Hogan. “Gloucestershire are a good side and so we have to make sure we compete against them.”
The two successive Championship defeats followed victories in Hogan’s first two games since taking over the captaincy and the Australian seamer is keen to see his team improve their decision making.
“There’s been some common themes in the last two defeats so we have to iron those out and be ready for next match.
“We need to improve in all areas on the last game. We dropped catches, gave away some cheap wickets with the bat and then didn’t bowl very well.
“We’re still looking for consistency and the last two games we’ve certainly not delivered that.
“However, we’ve shown at times this year, when we put together a full day of good cricket together then we can compete with the top teams.
“We go to Cheltenham with a fresh mindset ready to play positive cricket.”
After this week’s Championship match attention turns to the NatWest T20 Blast which starts on Friday in Cardiff, with the visit of Hampshire. Adult tickets for this clash are only £10.
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Glamorgan (14-man) squad to play Gloucestershire: Rudolph, Selman, Salter, Ingram, Donald, Lloyd, Wagg, Cullen, Cooke, De Lange, Carey, Hogan (c), Morgan, van der Gugten
Gloucestershire squad: Bancroft, Dent, Tavare, Roderick, Van Buuren, Hankins, Mustard (c), J.Taylor, Noema-Barnett, Payne, Miles, Norwell.