Red-ball captain Michael Hogan is pleased his side ground out a win against Leicestershire in front of a home crowd to end their 2018 campaign.
With Marchant de Lange, Lukas Carey and Ruaidhri Smith unavailable for the county’s final game of the season, Hogan and Timm van der Gugten consistently led the bowling attack in the latter stages of the competition with the skipper admitting it was beginning to show.
“It was relief I think,” said Hogan. “It was good timing because the wicket tended to get flat as the day went on in general over the course of the game with the ball getting old. It was hard work because our seamers, given the end of the season were probably out of petrol. It’s relief but a nice feeling.
“It’s going to be a bit of momentum heading into the pre-season and we know we have a lot to work on but we do have a lot to work with as well. It’s good for morale, we put some scores on the board and battled through a period losing Kiran Carlson, [Graham] Wagg and we showed some fighting qualities which is always good to see.
“It’s always good to bring young players through but they need some senior bankers to be able to work with and learn from. Those guys may not guarantee, but you hope score a lot of runs and manage younger guys frustrations with their inconsistent performances.
“Marchant [de Lange] is back bowling now which is good for him so hopefully with some strength work during the off season, he can come back at the start of the season ready to go.