IT was a real blow when James Harris left Glamorgan for Middlesex last year but the first few months of the season shows we’ve found the perfect replacement.

Australian bowler Michael Hogan has been superb for us so far, taking 27 wickets, the second highest in Division Two of the County Championship.

As I said at the start of the season, he reminds me of Michael Kasprowicz, another Aussie who proved to be a real hit at Glamorgan.

‘Hoges’ is low maintenance and just loves to bowl and bowl – he has got through 176 overs in our five County Championship games.

He is almost an old-fashioned English seamer and the conditions have really suited him.

It was clear from what was said by Marcus North, Jim Allenby and Stewart Walt-ers, who all knew him from his exploits with Western Australia, that he was a quality player.

Hoges has proved to be the perfect fit. Not only that but he is doing exactly what you want from an experienced import – not only has he starred on the field but he has helped to bring on our young seamers.

He has fitted into the dressing room really well and his influence is already showing in the bowling of Mike Reed and John Glover.

For us to have Hoges for at least two years is great and we are lucky that he is the wrong side of 30, otherwise I don’t think Australia would have allowed him to slip through the net. Even so, Western Australia coach Justin Langer tried everything he could to persuade him to stay. Thankfully he failed, because their loss is definitely Glamorgan’s gain.

Hoges was a key figure in our game in Leicester last week, where we out-Foxed the East Midlanders only to be denied by the weather.

It was frustrating because the batting line-up clicked to put us on top – Jim Allenby hitting a brilliant unbeaten 138 – and then the bowlers, with Hogan and Glover taking four wickets apiece, skittled Leicestershire to allow us to enforce the follow-on.

Unfortunately the rain lashed down at a freezing Grace Road and we couldn’t head home with more points, but that’s cricket and we were on the ropes when the weather saved us versus Northamptonshire earlier in the season.

It was another good performance, however, and we have been competitive in every game of the season.

The boys are confident and looking forward to going up against Somerset at Taunton in the Yorkshire Bank 40 on Sunday and Gloucestershire in Bristol in the championship next week.

By then I should just about have recovered from venturing away from my analysis laptop to don the whites again. I turned out alongside my brother Adam for Panteg in Division One of the Glamorgan and Monmouth-shire League and was pleased to play a part in another good win.

I must admit I was a bit sceptical in the week building up to the game at St Fagans but the sun was out and I really enjoyed it.

It was great to roll back the years, bowl eight overs on the trot (taking three wickets for a miserly 13 I might add) but I paid for it the next morning.

I felt more like a 41-year-old than a 31-year-old as I struggled to get out of bed, but I look forward to next time.