GLAMORGAN have admitted they have been prepared to sacrifice the last three totesport League matches in a bid to have a glimpse into the future.
With the totesport title wrapped up in good time and the trophy in the cabinet, Glamorgan have taken the opportunity to blood younger squad members in their remaining matches.
And although the county lost to Kent on Sunday and Warwickshire yesterday they have found the exercise has had its pluses.
A new-look Glamorgan, without campaign regulars such as Andrew Davies, Alex Wharf, Matthew Elliott, Dean Cosker, Darren Thomas and the retired Adrian Dale, went down by four wickets to relegation-threatened Warwickshire.
But that did not worry coach John Derrick as he saw the potential emergence of 20-year-old Neath all rounder Richard Grant, who took the wicket of Nick Knight with only his second ball in the competition.
''We are losing these games but it is all about blooding youngsters,'' admitted Derrick.
''It was a learning experience and we had four or five youngsters out there.
''After winning the title last week we knew we had three more games in which to look at some other players. ''Richard Grant got Nick Knight out and you can't ask for a better one-day wicket than him. That's the sort of thing we are looking for from these youngsters as we prepare for next season.''
There was also an encouraging performance from Simon Jones in only his second appearance in the competition - five years after his debut.
Jones has not been associated with the accuracy required in one-day cricket but yesterday the eight-times capped Test star produced more than respectable figures of 9-0-34-1.
Not only that but he bowled with good speed on a slow pitch.
''That's what we need Simon to do on a regular basis. He bowled accurately with a lot of venom to boot,'' said Derrick.
After winning the toss Glamorgan looked to have posted a useful total of 211-7 in their 45 overs on the same pitch that they had lost to Kent off the final ball on Sunday.
They had to thank Matthew Maynard, whose 63 was not only the sixth time he had past 50 in totesport cricket but it also saw him become the first Glamorgan player to score more than 8,000 one-day league runs.
With David Hemp the former skipper put on 95 in 19 overs, carrying on the good work from Michael Powell, who put a bad trot of one-day form behind him, in sharing a stand of 75 with Ian Thomas.
Despite the early wicket of Neil Carter, Warwickshire never looked in any real trouble as they knocked off the required runs with four overs to spare.
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