Vitality T20 Blast 2018 : Glamorgan vs Hampshire Preview and Playing XI
Glamorgan will look to register their fifth successive win of the season when they take on a struggling Hampshire in this South Group game of the Vitality Blast 2018 at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Friday, August 10.
Both teams have played each other in ten T20 Blast games with the Hampshire winning seven and the Glamorgan five. In their previous clash at Southampton Glamorgan scored 168/6 in 20 overs and then bowled Hampshire out for just 105 inside 17 overs to win the match by 63 runs.
Glamorgan: Glamorgan currently find themselves in a very comfortable position on the second spot with 13 points in the South Group points table comprising six wins and three losses from ten league matches.
The departure of Australian pair Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns has left Glamorgan without an overseas player in their squad and it seems unlikely that they will be getting a replacement anytime soon.
With the bat, Skipper Colin Ingram is leading from the front and has scores of 46* and 89 in his previous two innings. In the absence of Aussie pair, he is undoubtedly going to be the key figure in Glamorgan's batting line-up. While Kiran Carlson with a strike-rate of 143.26 has looked good in patches and he is expected to play the big knock.
With the ball, Timm van der Gugten has been the standout performer with 16 wickets has in 9 fixtures. While Ruaidhri Smith has taken nine wickets in five matches including one four-wicket haul and both these bowlers can cause a few problems for Hampshire in this match.
Expected Playing XI: Colin Ingram (C), Chris Cooke, Kiran Carlson, Graham Wagg, Nicholas Selman, Andrew Salter, Ruaidhri Smith, Timm van der Gugten, Michael Hogan, Aneurin Donald and Craig Meschede.
Hampshire: Hampshire have struggled to win matches in T20 Blast. They are lying at the bottom of points table with just one in ten matches and their chances of making it past the group stage look bleak.
With the bat, Hampshire are heavily reliant on Colin Munro and Liam Dawson when it comes to batting. Dawson has scored the most runs for the side this season while Munro can be extremely dangerous with his big-hitting skills. Except them, none of the batsmen in the side has been able to score, which has been the major concern for Hamps.
With the ball, Hampshire will turn to the likes of Chris Wood, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Kyle Abbott to do the job. Wood has been the pick of the lot and he seems a top candidate here to provide the early breakthroughs with the new ball. While Mujeeb can be a tricky bowler to face and he will be backed by his team for a good bowling performance against Glamorgan.
Expected Playing XI: James Vince (C), Colin Munro, Sam Northeast, Rilee Rossouw, Kyle Abbott, Chris Wood, Ryan Stevenson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Tom Alsop, Liam Dawson and Joe Weatherley.