Glamorgan captain Jacques Rudolph fielded questions from supporters during a Question & Answer session at The SSE SWALEC today (Thursday) and spoke about the need to create competition for places and a bigger, stronger squad, if the Welsh county are to improve in the coming years.
Rudolph, who was ruled out of the current County Championship clash with Gloucestershire due to a neck injury, admitted Glamorgan's four-day form has not been up to scratch, but was determined to see an improvement in the coming years.
Glamorgan have fielded a lot of younger players due to key injuries to the likes of Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke this season.
Rudolph said: "In the last 10 Championship games, we’ve played a lot of youngsters, but we’ve seen young Aneurin Donald and David Lloyd do well (this season).
"As soon as Colin (Ingram) and (Chris) Cooke come back we can have competition for places, because we’re not blessed with a really big squad. If you’re able to employ the right people, you can create the right competition for places."
Rudoloph was keen for Glamorgan to bolster their squad if possible over the winter, as well as introducing some of the young prospects, such as Owen Morgan, Kiran Carlson and Lukas Carey – who have made a big impression this season – into the first team.
He added: "When we start creating a squad where you can replace people with players who are fresh, we can succeed. At the moment we have to stay patient. We’ve got a lot of young batters and bowlers coming through.
“From a batting point of view, Nick Selman will be a big player for us going down the years. He got four ducks in a row but showed great ability to come back from that and score a hundred.
“We’ve had a few makeshift guys coming in and out so it will be good to stabilise over the next few years. I still believe we need to sign one experienced fast bowler to go alongside Graham Wagg, Michael Hogan, Timm and Craig Meschede."
Rudolph is expected to return to the Glamorgan side for their fixture against Essex in Chelmsford next week.