Glamorgan Cricket; Glamorgan v Leicestershire (Sunday)
Last updated on .From the section Cricket
| CCD2: Glamorgan v Leicestershire |
|---|
| Date: 17-20 April Venue: SSE Swalec Stadium, Cardiff Daily start: 11:00 BST |
| Coverage: Live commentary on the BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app, plus live scorecard online |
Glamorgan and Leicestershire begin their Championship campaigns at the SSE Swalec Stadium.
Holland paceman Timm van der Gugten or on-loan Middlesex youngster Harry Podmore could make a competitive debut for Glamorgan.
The visitors are likely to field experienced new signings Paul Horton, Neil Dexter and Mark Pettini.
Glamorgan finished fourth in division two in 2015 while Leicestershire were ninth.
Foxes 'tougher'
Glamorgan won the 2015 encounter in Cardiff while the opening game at Grace Road was drawn, but Leicestershire recorded two victories later in the campaign after a fruitless two years in the four-day format.
"They've recruited really well over the winter, they've bought in a lot of experience into their side so I don't expect the same sort of team as we saw a couple of years ago," Glamorgan head coach Robert Croft told BBC Wales Sport.
"They'll be quite a tough nut to crack but you've got to concentrate on what you do. It's about our strengths and playing to those strengths."
Cosgrove return
Foxes captain Mark Cosgrove is a former Glamorgan fans' favourite after four seasons with them.
"It's always nice to go back to Cardiff and say hello to old friends, but make no mistake, I'm back there for business, the plan is to start as we mean to go on," he told BBC Radio Leicester.
Cosgrove notched up three centuries in his last eight innings of 2015.
The Foxes have recruited Horton from Lancashire, Dexter from Middlesex and Pettini from Essex to bolster their batting.
"I finished the season really well, and if I can start the way I finished, I'll be happy with that. I definitely learned as a captain - it was tough at times, but it was exciting at times as well, and I learned a lot about captaincy and managing people," said Cosgrove.
"We probably lacked a couple of senior players and experience sometimes - we've brought that in and hopefully we'll be able to get on the front foot and play a lot of attacking cricket."
Home captain Jacques Rudolph is certain there will be a toss, rather than Cosgrove electing to bowl under the new regulations, after just six wickets fell in two days of Glamorgan's draw against Cardiff MCCU.
Leicestershire were given a competitive workout by Loughborough MCCU in their final warm-up.
Glamorgan will have a dilemma in which batsman to leave out, with South African international Colin Ingram set to come in.
Glamorgan (from): Rudolph (capt), Kettleborough, Bragg, Ingram, Cooke, Donald, Lloyd, Wagg, Meschede, Wallace (wk), Salter, Hogan, van der Gugten, Podmore.
Leicestershire (from): Cosgrove (capt), Horton (vice captain), O'Brien (wk), Robson, Dexter, Pettini, Ali, Naik, White, Raine, McKay, Chappell, Shreck.
