Glamorgan Head Coach Matt Maynard was excited for the start of the season as he discussed his thoughts at Glamorgan’s annual Media Day.
While he knows his side are as best prepared as they can be, the experienced campaigner knows that sport, and seemingly cricket in particular, has a habit of creating unexpected surprises.
“There’s excitement, there’s a bit of nerves as there always is and as there should be,” said Maynard. “It’s that unknown when you go into the first game and the prep has gone well but you’ll only really know when you come up against opposition for the first time.
“We’ve had a really good pre-season and made the best of it that we can. The intra-squad games have been really good and seeing guys putting their hands up.
“We did a lot of good work during the winter and a lot of that work has stayed with the players. There’s a bit of rustiness, especially with the bowlers and the workloads they go through, and we’re in a decent position now to go full throttle on Saturday.”
Glamorgan have been placed in the Central group, with Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire their other opponents – four Division One teams and a side that bested the Welsh county at New Road last September.
“It’s going to be tough, and I’m looking at the process. We started something last year. We got tougher to beat, we played some very good cricket and very positive at times and we read the games pretty well at times.
“Our challenge is to see how good these Division One sides are, and how well we compete. It’s very tough to get 20 wickets against Division One. We are under no illusion that it’s going to be tough for us, but it’s far better than what could’ve been with no cricket for our Members and supporters.