We’re up and running at Glamorgan, no also-rans this time

Apr 30 2008 by Mike Powell, Glamorgan CCC

THERE might still be doubters out there believing Glamorgan are going to be among the also-rans again this summer.

But if a good and positive atmosphere in the dressing room is anything to go by then we could be about to have a much improved season.

Being among the players over the past fortnight you get no sense that the county has been through the ringer over the last two years.

Don’t get me wrong the atmosphere was never terrible when we were losing last year, but there seems to be more of a collective purpose at the moment. The combination of the arrival of really experienced players such as Jason Gillespie, Matt Wood and Jamie Dalrymple and some new voices in the form of Matthew Maynard (cricket manager) and Dean Conway (physio) has made for a fresh start.

And I reckon there is a real edge to the side this year.

For instance when we were 20 for three in the first innings of our opening championship match against Middlesex at Lord’s last week there was no sense of panic or thoughts of “here we go again”. There is a real feeling of having faith in each other, firstly, that we had the batting in the side, which was proved when we got 300, and secondly, that we had the bowling attack to take wickets.

People keep dragging up the poor results of the past two years but hopefully not for much longer. Let’s hope we can give them some results to start talking about.

I think we can take real encouragement from our opening two matches – a solid draw at Lord’s and a fair batting display in the abandoned opening Friends Provident Trophy game against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

It’s amazing what some new faces in a side can do for you. It’s great to have Jason – better known as Dizzy – in the camp. His record proves he is a world-class operator and we, and especially the young seam bowlers, are lucky to have him on board.

He’s a solid bloke who also happens to be very good at cricket. I’m sure the likes of James Harris, Ryan Watkins and Huw Waters are going to gain a lot by his presence this year, just as Matt Elliott was great to have around for the batsmen.

Dizzy is a good example of someone who looks after himself. He trains hard, does the ice bath treatment and eats all the right types of food. On top of that he is a good laugh as well.

I think we have also been very fortunate with Woody and JD (Dalrymple). They are players from very different backgrounds but are both so determined to do well for Glamorgan.

Woody is a good pro, who showed what he was capable of with his fine unbeaten 91 against Gloucestershire on Sunday. He was unfortunate to get a first ball duck at Lord’s but he didn’t let it get to him.

He is a genuinely funny individual and never very far away from the centre of the banter flying around the dressing room.

A former Oxford Blue, JD is a very clever bloke who is a deep thinker on the game of cricket and he passed on some very useful tips about the Middlesex players last week.

It was good to bat with JD. He came in for an awful lot of stick from his former team-mates especially the Middlesex wicket-keeper David Nash, who is not shy of a chirp or two. I think it made Jamie all the more determined to get a big score against his old side.

I was absolutely landed to get to 50 at Lord’s on my championship return after all I had been through with my injury problems last season.

I played pretty well and I thought it was some of the best cricket I had played for a while.

I was just disappointed I could not go on to convert it into 100.