Glamorgan: Robert Croft hopeful of success after Allenby departure

Robert Croft believes Glamorgan are well-placed to challenge for promotion from Division Two of the County Championship in 2015.

The former England bowler - now assistant coach at the Welsh county - believes they have the players to cover the loss of all-rounder Jim Allenby.

"I believe we have the bases covered to compete towards the top of the competition," said Croft.

Glamorgan finished eighth out of nine in 2014.

Allenby joined Somerset in November 2014, a little over a year after signing a four-year contract with Glamorgan.

The English-qualified all-rounder scored 923 championship runs at an average of 34.19 and averaged 21.29 for his 52 wickets in the four-day game.

In addition Allenby top-scored for Glamorgan in the T20 blast with 548 runs at an average of 45.67.

Croft doesn't believe Glamorgan will look for a direct replacement for Allenby's runs and wickets.

"Jim is a terrific cricketer and he's moved on to pastures new now," he said.

"It might mean that we look to challenge and style our game in a different way now.

"But we've got Craig Meschede coming across (from Somerset) as well and he is a quality cricketer and he might be like-for-like, and David Lloyd is also improving year-in, year-out and he's another all-rounder.

"So whereas one moves out, another moves in, and that's what we're looking at."

Croft acknowledged Glamorgan's failures in recent seasons, but is confident the team can improve.

"We realise the faults we've had over the last couple of seasons, we realise our strengths as well" he added.

"What we've got to make sure that, certainly in the four-day game, we're more of a competitive team.

"We've got [South African international] Colin Ingram coming over as an experienced batter, [fast bowler] Michael Hogan's form has been superb and there's a new captain (Jacques Rudolph)."

Glamorgan have won three and lost six in each of the last three years of the Championship division two, but they missed out on the 2014 T20 Blast finals day by a single run against Lancashire in the quarter finals, and also came close to the knockout stages of the 50-over Royal London Cup.