It’s been a busy winter for red-ball captain, Michael Hogan as he begins his first full season in charge of Glamorgan’s Specsavers County Championship side after signing a new one-year contract extension with the Club earlier this year.
Hoges took some time out from his busy pre-season preparation to talk about contracts, the forthcoming season, captaincy, his own form and the pending arrival of Shaun Marsh.
Q: How happy are you to secure your future with Glamorgan?
Absolutely delighted. I’m relieved and happy to get it done before the season started. I’m really excited for the new season and hopefully we can hit the ground running.
Q: As leading wicket-taker last year you must be pleased with the gas left in the tank at the moment?
Yes, no issues with my form. I feel pretty good to play for at least the next two years and the body feels good. I think it’s sad that I didn’t start until late, however, I feel really good and the preseason has gone very well.
Q: Have you set yourself any targets in the back of your mind to get another year or two?
I don’t know to be honest with you. I’ve spoken to Hugh (Morris) and we will take it year by year now. I’m happy with that. I’m really excited to progress the young lads through this phase of where the club is looking to go to and my main focus now is improving Glamorgan.
Q: How different has this pre-season been for you knowing you are coming into it as Championship captain, in terms of your responsibilities?
It’s been no different, I’ve still worked the same personally, however probably spent more time observing and watching than I would of in previous years. Nothing really different in terms of preparation, however, we have done some extra planning with Hugh and Crofty. It’s more time consuming, but good all the same.
Q: What sort of things were you talking about in terms of the planning?
The way we approach our game, what our plans of promoting our own Welsh talent and the kids coming through the Academy. How we progress the junior ranks is important to us. We are going to try and play a different brand of cricket and build a reputation as a good, strong side.
Q: In terms of different brand, what are you talking about then?
We want to go back to the basics of cricket. We have tried playing it as an attacking game in the past and it hasn’t really worked for us. With Matthew Maynard coming on board he has been able to talk the young guys through how to plan. Advising the way to building things rather than going out there and thinking they can go from the start.
Q: What kind of influence will Shaun Marsh have on the side?
I spoke to him the other day, he’s excited to come here. Fortunately for us it looks like he will be here all season, so that’s perfect for our stability. I’m excited with what he will add to the side in terms of runs and leadership and his wealth of experience. Looking forward to him getting here and I think he is a really good addition.
Q: What sort of personality will he bring to the dressing room then?
He’s not a loud character, but when he speaks he is always on the money. He’ll offer a lot to our room in terms of toughness and there is nothing he hasn’t done in the game. He scores 100s in every format. His experience will be invaluable for us, given our average batting age at the moment.
Q: It’s quiet an unusual makeup up with the age profile. You have the 30+ and early 20s and teenagers, but not much in the middle.
We have probably been unfortunate with some retirements, which has been out of everyone’s control. It’s exciting; at various times over the last few seasons some players have shown some excellent skill and a lot of runs for us, so if we can get some more consistency with our play then we are on the right path.
Q: In terms of the bowling line up, you have a fairly established group of seamers. Will they be able to rest you through the season?
That’s still possible, we’ve spoken about that if that be the case then we will take it game by game in the season and there could come a time where that needs to happen which is fine.
Q: What are you planning to get out of Dubai apart from a suntan?
I’ve seen the schedule and we don’t have a lot of time off. In the past few seasons we started off the pace in terms of the championship and it is something we are trying to take out of our game. We are really happy that the club has been able to raise the funds to get us this preseason tour playing against some quality competition. It will be good to get the boys outside and get some match practice in and work on some combinations in both one-day and four-day cricket