Glamorgan start their campaign in the NatWest t20 Blast by meeting Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl on Friday, May 16th - start time 7pm.
The opening match of the NatWest t20 Blast will see the Welsh county return to the scene of their enthralling victory last summer over the South coast side which saw Mark Wallace and his team clinch a place in the final of the Yorkshire Bank40 competition at Lord's. Jim Allenby won the Man-of-the-Match award for his outstanding efforts with both bat and ball last September at the Ageas Bowl, and the all-rounder will be at the helm on Friday evening as Glamorgan start their t20 campaign
It will also be the first time since 2011 that the two sides will have met each other in the short-form of the game. That contest - on June 17
th at the SWALEC Stadium - was washed out and followed a game nine days before at the Ageas Bowl when Hampshire defeated Glamorgan by two wickets after the visitors had been restricted to 120/9 with spinner Danny Briggs claiming 4/24.
Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams had been the star the previous summer at their home ground when he posted what proved to be a match-winning century for his side as they defeated the Welsh county by 54 runs. His efforts also helped his side redress the balance having lost three weeks before at Cardiff by seven wickets, with the game on June 8
th, 2010 at the SWALEC Stadium being the only occasion, so far, that Glamorgan have beaten Hampshire in the Twenty20 competition.
Prior to their victory last summer in the 40-overs competition, Glamorgan had not won a limited-overs contest at Hampshire's redeveloped headquarters since August 2004. Besides their two defeats in t20 matches, the Welsh county had lost their recent 40 and 50 overs matches at the Ageas Bowl. Jim Allenby and the Glamorgan squad will therefore be looking to build on their success last summer and start the 20 overs competition - as last year at Worcester - in winning ways.
Squad News: Glamorgan (13-man) squad to play Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl: TJ Lancefield, JA Rudolph, CB Cooke, BJ Wright, MW Goodwin, SJ Walters, J Allenby (capt), MA Wallace (wkt), GG Wagg, AG Salter, RAJ Smith, DA Cosker and WT Owen