David Ripley has admitted that he had to make a couple of tricky selectorial choices for Northamptonshire’s first game of the season at Glamorgan.
The County make the trip to the Swalec Stadium to kick off their County Championship season and have named a 12-strong squad for the four-day clash, which starts tomorrow (Weds).
And with a full quota to select from, head coach Ripley had two spots that were up for discussion, namely that of Stephen Peters’ opening partner and the fourth seamer with Kyle Coetzer and Lee Daggett being given the nod.
Ripley explained: “There has been tough competition for places and we had a good discussion about the make-up of the side.
“There was a decision to be made about who was going to open with Stephen as both Kyle and Matt (Spriegel) have gone well in pre-season.
“Spriegs was good on tour and Kyle has looked good in practice which made it a tough call and Matt is unlucky not to be starting.
“We also gave a lot of consideration to including either Olly Stone or Luke Evans, but at this time of year we felt that someone like Lee, who hits good areas most of the time, would be more effective and that edged it in his favour.”
As for Glamorgan, Ripley expects them to be an awkward opponent on their own patch.
The Welsh outfit have made a couple of high-profile signings in Murray Goodwin and Australian seamer Michael Hogan and, like the County, will desperately want to improve from a mediocre showing in 2012.
Ripley added: “They will have been disappointed with where they finished last year but they’ve made some good signings, especially with (James) Harris going to Middlesex.
“They’ll be like us in that if they get on a roll, and it looks like that kind of division, they’ll fancy their chances of getting promotion and they’ll be a tough side to beat at home.”
Northants from: Peters, Coetzer, Sales, Wakely, Newton, Hall, Murphy, Willey, Copeland, Daggett, Middlebrook, Crook.