Cooke eyes success without big guns

3 Aug 2018 | Cricket
Glamorgan stand-in skipper Chris Cooke is relishing the county\'s \'best in the west\' derby against Gloucestershire at Sophia Gardens on Friday night.

The wicket-keeper captained the Welsh county in the absence of Colin Ingram and watched his side maintain their unbeaten record in the Vitality Blast at The Oval. 

Cooke says his team's success against Surrey has proved they can cope without Glamorgan's 'big guns'. 

"It was a fantastic win in Surrey and to do it without our big guns," said Cooke. "Other boys put up their hands and hopefully it's about putting a few wins back to back now and getting some momentum going. 

"Obviously they're big losses but we've got a good squad and I'm sure we'll be okay. We adapted pretty well at The Oval, we're losing Uzzie [Khawaja] for Sunday's game but we have a few options. We have guys playing good cricket so they'll come in and take the opportunities."

Cooke was named Glamorgan's vice-captain at the beginning of the season and believes the county can reach the knockout stages of the Vitality Blast in successive years. 

"There's always responsibility on the guys who play for Glamorgan," added Cooke. "It won't be different to any other game, I see it as more of an opportunity for players to go and put up their hands and win games without our experienced players which is great. 

"It's second nature as a keeper to read the game, we have a few older heads like the Wagg's and the Hogan's so they're always offering advice so it'll my job a lot easier.  

"We've been up and down and done well away from home. If we can get our home form going then we can be a really dangerous side. It's a long competition so it's important to find form at the back end, if we can catch fire now then we'll be nicely placed."