Robert Croft believes Glamorgan have lifted the gloom hanging over them just in time for the start of their NatWest T20 Blast campaign.
The county face Surrey at The Kia Oval on Thursday evening, still without a win this season – having lost three of their six Specsavers County Championship matches so far.
But an improved display in their most recent draw with Essex over four days at the Swalec Stadium has given head coach Croft optimism for their opening white ball match of the season.
“I thought from where we have been, and the fact that we haven’t won many matches, it was important that we came out of this game psychologically on top, and I think we did,” insisted Croft.
“I thought our performance in the four days was a far better performance than we have shown so far this season and it needed to be.
“I think we showed to ourselves, and hopefully to the people that watched the game, the calibre of player we do have in our squad.”
Glamorgan batted themselves back into the game as Will Bragg’s career-best 161 not out took them to 386 for 8 declared in the second innings, before taking five Essex wickets on day four, but falling short of victory.
Essex successfully negotiated the 63 overs that were bowled in their second innings, finishing on 160 for 5. Glamorgan had batted on in the morning session to set Essex an unlikely victory target of 334 in 70 overs.
But Essex opener Nick Browne held up Glamorgan’s victory bid by scoring a solid 71, as both sides had to settle for a draw and 10 points each.
Croft added: “It was a tough, hard-fought game. It is the cricket you probably see in Division One. We decided to bat the opposition out of the game this morning and give them no chance of winning and backed ourselves to get the wickets.
“The pitch was very flat at the end, it needed some graft. Unfortunately we didn’t quite get there, but we have come out of this game with far more confidence and far more belief.”
New signing Dale Steyn will miss Thursday’s opening T20 Blast match against Surrey, although his fellow South African Colin Ingram will play his first match of the season.
Steyn has been signed for the first seven games in the T20 tournament with Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait replacing him for the second half of the competition.
But Steyn will miss the first game of his stint after his Indian Premier League side, the Gujarat Lions, booked their place in the tournament play-offs.
Ingram, though, is fit again after a knee injury and the 30-year-old batsman said: “It’s been a really tough start to the season.
“But it might be really good for us to change the format up completely and change the momentum of the season. We can keep building on that with a really good run in the next couple of months coming.”