NEW Glamorgan boss Toby Radford wants to follow the Northamptonshire blueprint in a bid for success on two fronts this season, writes Chris Kirwan.

The former Middlesex and West Indies coach is preparing for his first season at the Swalec Stadium helm after succeeding Matthew Mott.

Glamorgan face Worcestershire in a one-day friendly in Kidderminster on Monday and host Cardiff MCCU in a three-day contest that starts on Tuesday before the real action gets under way at the Oval next Sunday.

They face Surrey in the County Championship and Radford, who grew up in Caerphilly, hopes that it will be the start of a push towards Division One.

He said: "Last year the boys did well to get to Lord's in the 40-over competition, so they have shown that they are a good one-day side, but we'd love to get promotion in the Championship.

"Playing in Division One should be a priority for a county like Glamorgan and Northamptonshire showed by winning the T20 and getting promoted last year that you can be successful on both fronts.

"It's a challenge but there is no reason we can't follow their lead because we have a talented and well-balanced squad that is more than capable of doing well in the four-day game."

Glamorgan will be operating with a small squad this season but Radford believes it is a recipe for success to mix youth with the likes of captain Mark Wallace, key batsmen Murray Goodwin and Jacques Rudolph, allrounder Jim Allenby and seamer Michael Hogan.

"The long-term strategy is to find and develop homegrown talent," he said. "At the moment we have got some good young Welsh players here and the idea is to get results and help bring them on at the same time.

"I'm positive about what I've seen because we've got the likes of Andrew Salter, David Lloyd and Ruaidhri Smith coming through and we'll also be trawling to see if there is anyone on the up with a bit of pace.

"We are looking to push these youngsters to not just thrive in county cricket but to have ambitions of playing for England. Helping them get there is down to our coaching team but also the on-field role models, the likes of Michael Hogan and Jim Allenby."