Usman Khawaja is set to make his Glamorgan debut when they return to red-ball action in the Specsavers County Championship against Division Two leaders Warwickshire at Edgbaston on Saturday.
And captain Michael Hogan believes Khawaja, who was already due to boost Glamorgan in the Vitality Blast, is also an ideal first-class deputy for Shaun Marsh, following his call-up to Australia’s one-day squad.
“We’re replacing Marsh with a similar quality left-hand bat,” said Hogan, who played alongside Khawaja for New South Wales Second Eleven a decade ago. “He’s a similar character and a great guy. Shaun will be a loss in terms of settling in well, but in terms of what Usman brings, we won’t lose anything there.”
Much as Marsh has done in the early stages of the season, Glamorgan will be hoping Usman Khawaja can bolster an otherwise inexperienced top-order.
Glamorgan suffered an agonising three-run defeat to Leicestershire in their last Championship game before the Royal London One-Day Cup, and Hogan added: “It was frustrating. We got ourselves in a position three times to boss that game.
“Then Marchant de Lange got us into a position where we’d had no right to win the game and he nearly got us over the line. Some of our basic skill areas were disappointing and we let them off the hook a few times. There’s a lot of ‘what ifs’ in the game but if we’d won, we’d be sitting third and having a different conversation.”
Glamorgan will be without de Lange in Birmingham, although Hogan believes he himself will be fit after a hamstring injury. And he hopes to line up alongside Timm van der Gugten, who has been made available by the Netherlands.
“Timm has done well for us. We know what sort of quality bowler he is, while Marchant offers something a bit different in terms of raw pace, which works in certain conditions but not in others.
"Lukas Carey has done really well and it’s good to see Ruaidhri Smith come on too. The bowling attack has been fantastic for us. It’s good to have four quicks to rotate to keep everyone fresh over the county season.”
Article written by Alun Rhys Chivers for the ECB Reporters Network