Glamorgan all-rounder Kiran Carlson made his first-class debut against Northamptonshire in August 2016
Bob Willis Trophy: Somerset v Glamorgan |
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Dates: 1-4 August Time: 11:00 BST: Venue: Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton |
Coverage: Commentary on BBC Sport online; updates on BBC Radio Somerset and BBC Radio Wales |
Glamorgan batsman Kiran Carlson has been drawing on the experience of Marnus Labuschagne as he takes over the Australian star's number three role.
"Big boots to fill, but I've been in contact with him for the nuggets of knowledge he's passed on," said Carlson.
Callum Taylor, also 22, could make his first-class debut in the season opener at Somerset.
Kieran Bull is the specialist spinner in the 13-man squad.
Taylor looks to be contesting a batting place with Tom Cullen, while all-rounders Graham Wagg, Dan Douthwaite and Ruaidhri Smith are likely to dispute two places for the first of five red-ball group games.
Somerset are without batsman Tom Banton, all-rounder Lewis Gregory, and spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach on England duty but still thrashed Gloucestershire by an innings and 24 runs in their last warm-up for the Bob Willis Trophy.
Carlson, the youngest player to score a century for Glamorgan at the age of 18, has now played 30 first-class games but saw his 2019 season stall after several weeks out taking his engineering exams at Cardiff University.
Now he is set to take over from the absent Australian in what has been a problem position for Glamorgan in recent years until Labuschagne's stellar performance in 2019, scoring 1,114 championship runs in 10 matches.
"I feel ready for it, I've done a lot of work for it this summer," Carlson told BBC Sport Wales.
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"Marnus has passed on little technical bits after he was very successful last year both in the Ashes and in the county championship.
"It's not to change my game but it's good to have someone to talk to and he's a great person to speak to because he's quite young, and he's learned a lot off Matt (Maynard).
"Somerset are a proper side, they've been challenging for the championship for the past few years but we're confident as a group and if we stick to our guns we can beat anyone on our day."
Newport batsman Taylor, who is the same age as Carlson but has just four T20 appearances to his name, could fill in for David Lloyd after the vice-captain suffered a broken foot in trying to stop a straight drive while bowling.
"Callum's very exciting and he's impressed in pre-season, he's dynamic," said coach Matthew Maynard.
"He came into the side in T20 cricket last year and he's become a better player over the winter with a couple of things to take away back to Australia."
The match will be played behind closed doors, as will all the opening nine fixtures of the official county season.
Somerset (from): Byrom, Lammonby, Abell (capt), Hildreth, Bartlett, S Davies (wk), Green, C Overton, van der Merwe, J Overton, Davey, Brooks, Gilchrist.
Glamorgan (from): Selman, Hemphrey, Carlson, Taylor, Root, C Cooke (capt, wk), Cullen, Wagg, Douthwaite, Smith, Bull, de Lange, Hogan.
