Dalrymple demoted as Petersen takes over!

Glamorgan have appointed South African opening batsman Alviro Petersen as their new captain, and overseas player, for the 2011 season.

James Dalrymple has led the side for the last two seasons, but it seems their limited overs form is the biggest reason behind the change of leader. Glamorgan narrowly missed out on promotion to division one of the County Championship on the final day of last season, but the club placed huge emphasis on the one-day competitions and they were poor in both the Twenty20 competition and the CB40 trophy.

In the FP T20, they won six games out of 16, finishing 8th in their group of nine, and it was worse still in the 40-over format finishing bottom of Group A (7th).

Petersen is no stranger to captaincy, he is the current man in charge of Highveld Lions back in South Africa, so to have the opportunity to captain in another country will help his development no end.

The benefits of having Petersen at Glamorgan are clear. He is an international player that is currently available for the entire season with South Africa having nothing scheduled, he already possesses captaincy experience, and he knows what it takes to lead a side in a high profile Twenty20 competition. He led the Lions at the Champions League in September this year, despite failing to qualify for the semi-finals they put up a decent show, winning two and losing two.

It is becoming the focus of many counties to excel at T20 cricket with the financial rewards on offer, rather than, in Glamorgan's case, strive to win promotion into the top division of the County Championship. Of course playing attractive and successful cricket in the 40-over format should in theory swell the coffers with a growth in attendances at the Swalec Stadium.

Petersen will have some very able performers to work with, young paceman James Harris continues to enhance his credentials, in the Championship last season he took 63 wickets at 20.52, and the all-round skills of the underrated Jim Allenby will be vital in all forms.

Mark Cosgrove has been an offered a T20 contract for 2011, he was in imperious form in this format in 2010 (562 runs @ strike rate of 132.23), and the Welsh county will be eagerly awaiting his response.