By Charlie Talbot-Smith
OUT with the old and in with the new, Glamorgan’s Jim Allenby is adamant a fresh era of success is finally getting started in Wales.
Second bottom of Division Two in the Championship last year, it has now been nine years since the county were in the top flight.
And despite taking his side to their first Lord’s final in more than a decade in 2013, head coach Matthew Mott paid for his side’s perceived underachievement.
In comes Toby Radford as head coach and former ECB supremo Hugh Morris returns to the club as chief executive and all of a sudden optimism is rife at the Swalec Stadium.
Allenby, re-appointed as t20 skipper while Mark Wallace captains the four and one-day sides, admits it was time for a change.
“Something had to happen, results for the last three years have been really poor and I don’t think anyone could say otherwise,” said the Perth-born all-rounder.
“The season is long enough to be a fair reflection. As much as we were disappointed about how some things went against us, you have to be honest and say the table doesn’t lie.
“No-one wants to play their whole career down there. The top division is where every sportsman wants to be, us as well.
“We had the Lord’s final but we want to be playing at those big grounds all the time.
“We’ve got one of the best ourselves and want to be playing against the top sides. The four-day stuff is a big focus, promotion is the main goal for us this summer.
“Maybe our focus was once on the one-day stuff, bringing in the crowds and the business side of it. That’s not to say it’s not important but for us, as players, the four-day game has to be the pinnacle.”
Former Middlesex and Sussex batsman Radford joins after a spell as West Indies assistant coach and Allenby insists his influence can be keenly felt already.
“There’s a buzz about the place in training, I’ve noticed a massive difference having gone away and come back. It’s hugely positive and when you’ve got an impressive bloke like Hugh as well it just bleeds into the team,” he said.
“Toby’s very methodical but most importantly he’s a straight shooter. Players are in no doubt what he wants from them and you can really see an edge to training.
“We do nothing that doesn’t have a reason to it, there’s a fantastic attention to detail which is the biggest difference.”
If Glamorgan struggled anywhere last year it was for top-order runs, Allenby’s white-hot form in the middle order often having to bail them out.
He ended the summer with a first-class average of 60.10 with two centuries and eight 50s. But with Jacques Rudolph set to arrive, Allenby is hoping for improvements across the board, not just the top of the order.
“Last year we struggled against the new ball and that puts you under pressure before you have even started really,” added Allenby, 31.
“If we can start getting off to good starts that will give us a chance to make every game competitive.
“To have someone like Jacques come in who is a world-class opener is massive in that sense, if he can come in and make his runs then it makes everything so much easier for the middle and lower order.
“But it’s not just the batting, of course, we have to improve all areas of our game if we want to be competitive, we need another strike bowler, you want someone else to be up there with Michael Hogan.”
Hogan was a one-man bowling attack for Glamorgan last year, finishing the county season with 67 first-class wickets. But with Mike Reed set to miss the first two months of the season with injury the burden could fall squarely on his shoulders again this season.
But Allenby is not so sure, saying: “Having one guy take as many wickets as he (Hogan) did was great but we want two or three guys capable of taking 50 wickets so it’s up to the other guys to make the step up.
“Waggy (Graham Wagg) is coming back and if he can get fit and get back to the form he showed at Derby a few years back then he’ll be a real threat and a huge boost for the team.
“I’ll be very surprised if he does not have a much better season this time around, he is looking absolutely fantastic.”
