Ahead of the start of the 50-over competition, head coach David Harrison previews his side’s defence of the Royal London Cup title.
There are a lot of good teams and players in the competition so we’ll have to play well, our focus is to start well and that begins with Derby on Tuesday.
From the outside there’ll be an expectation, but we’ve just got to do the basics really well to give ourselves a chance of winning games and progressing to the quarter-final.
We’re going all-out with selection, my message is that we treat this competition the same as the Championship and T20, looking to play the strongest side we can with the right balance. That’s what we’ll do in the first four or five games and see where we are at that stage.
We spoke a lot last summer about how important this competition is and to treat it with the respect it deserves, it’s a trophy to win and you could see how much it meant to everyone to get to the final at Trent Bridge, it was an outstanding experience and we’re trying to replicate that.
The Championship has been outstanding, to put us in that (promotion-challenging) position with four games to go, confidence is high and there’s a positive vibe in the group so we’re looking forward to carrying that forward into the 50-over comp.
It was incredible circumstances for a couple of guys (like Steven Reingold and Andy Gorvin) who were not on the radar at the start, so they got to take the trophy home and win a medal which they’ll have for the rest of their lives.
My message to the Welsh public is don’t forget us, we’ve a competition to play and it’ll be nice to play two games at Neath, a new ground for a lot of the guys, two games at Sophia Gardens so come and support us, we did well last year and it would be nice to get as many people as possible through the gate.
Michael Neser was only available for the first two or three games, and with the effort he’s put in in the Championship cricket, he’s been unbelievable, but he’s a bit stiff and sore so he won’t be available. It’s unlikely he’ll play. Colin Ingram is available for seven games and we’re looking for him to play a big part in those.
