Glamorgan bowler Timm van der Gugten felt relieved after his side defeated Leicestershire by 132 runs in the final game of the 2018 season.
The Welsh county took control of the game with a score of 359 in their first innings, before bowling out the visitors at Sophia Gardens for 132. Despite a late fightback from tail-enders Dieter Klein (94) and Gavin Griffiths (38*), van der Gugten trapped the latter LBW to secure victory on day three.
Despite a ‘tough’ season, the Dutch international believes Glamorgan can carry momentum into the 2019 season with so many young players now exposed to first-class cricket.
"It dragged on longer than we wanted, credit to the Leicester boys who made us work for it,” said van der Gugten. “I wasn't involved in the first win so it was my first four-day win of the year, hopefully we can take some momentum into next year.
"It's been tough, but we're a young squad and a lot of young guys have had the chance to play more first-class cricket, so hopefully they'll bring what they've learnt into next season.
"You can probably tell [Hogan and I] have lost a bit of pace and zip in the last couple of games,” added the fast bowler. “With Marchant [de Lange] going down early [in the season] it wasn't ideal and Lukas [Carey] injured as well, but that was the hand we were dealt.
"I'm straight on the bed on Monday for a bit of keyhole surgery on the shoulder, nothing major, but I've dislocated my shoulder a couple of times and it's to prevent it from keeping popping out."