County Championship: Glamorgan make changes against Surrey

Callum Taylor became only the fourth Glamorgan player to score a century on first-class debut at Northampton in 2020

Glamorgan will make at least two changes for their final Championship match of 2021 away to Surrey.

Batsman Nick Selman and fast bowler Timm van der Gugten miss out on a 13-man squad for the Oval.

Joe Cooke, Callum Taylor and Tom Cullen are all options to replace Selman in the team.

Meanwhile Jamie McIlroy could feature for the first time since April instead of van der Gugten.

After three heavy defeats in a row, Glamorgan go into the final round of Division Two needing to win away to Surrey to avoid finishing bottom of the section.

That would mean they are ranked 12th of the 18 counties in four-day cricket.

Surrey are just above them in the table with a defeat and a draw, after their match at Durham was cancelled because of Surrey's Covid cases.

Coach Matthew Maynard knows his side need to improve their performance after a traumatic return to four-day cricket following the euphoria of winning the Royal London One-Day Cup.

"That (another loss) would be not a true reflection of the season and people obviously remember the back end, we have an obligation to our supporters, members and the club itself to try to turn things around.

"I'm very happy with the squad we have, but we just haven't clicked, we haven't performed in these three days but we can't judge a season on three weeks."

Glamorgan's four Championship players who took part in the Hundred- Chris Cooke, David Lloyd, van der Gugten and Dan Douthwaite- all played bit-part roles in the franchise game leaving them short of form and match practice.

Cooke and Lloyd were then affected by Covid isolation requirements preventing them from playing a second eleven match before their return to county action.

"It's an issue but it's with us now for a long time, our players didn't have a hugely successful (Hundred) tournament but it's something you've got to live with," said Maynard.

"I think it's a fantastic competition where you're playing against better players of a higher standard, it's been great for the game. Every other country has a franchise system."

Glamorgan have not played a four-day game at the Oval since April 2014, when they won by ten wickets.

Surrey are likely to give a final appearance to former England all-rounder Rikki Clarke, 39, who is retiring from county cricket at the end of the week.

Surrey will be captained by batsman Ollie Pope for the first time, while England wicket-keeper Ben Foakes returns after injury.

Surrey (from): Pope (capt), Amla, Atkinson, J Clark, R Clarke, Foakes (wk), Jacks, Moriarty, Patel, Smith, Steel, Taylor, Topley, Virdi.

Glamorgan (from): Lloyd, Rutherford, Salter, Byrom, Carlson, C Cooke (capt, wk), Douthwaite, J Cooke, Taylor, Cullen, Smith, McIlroy, Hogan.