REACTION: “We’re trying to develop a team”

28 Jun 2018 | Cricket
Head Coach Robert Croft was in a reflective mood after his side’s lost to Northamptonshire in the Specsavers County Championship at Sophia Gardens.

Despite some good individual performances, including a record-breaking century from Usman Khawaja and career-best figures for Ruaidrhi Smith, Glamorgan fell to a 233 run loss.

“I think we had a poor day two and that’s what cost us,” said Croft.

“The partnership between Procter and Duckett meant the game ran away from us. I thought we did really well prior to that, to get as close as we did. Khawaja’s knock was outstanding yet again and his little partnership with Michael Hogan towards the end was superb and got us within 27, but we really were slack after that for as period and it was difficult to fight our way back.”

“Yesterday morning we showed what we were callable of. We got those wickets five wickets for about 90 runs and I thought we had a sniff, but unfortunately, we couldn’t back up another session and they broke away from there.”

Glamorgan has now lost four of their last five Specsavers County Championship matches, with some indifferent batting displays, however Croft believes it is part of a natural learning curve for his young side.

“We’re getting a lot of batsmen getting starts and not capitalising which makes all the difference, but that can be synonymous with a group of players who are at the early stages of their careers,” added Croft.

“The encouraging sign is that they are getting in but perhaps it’s a lack of concentration or a bit of naivety to not go on.

“I’ve seen some wonderful players for the club go through the same thing at the early stages of their careers. What we have is a lot of young players in together but it’s a strategy that we’re firmly behind as a Club and we’re trying to develop a team.”