Cricket: T20 Blast 2021 - Marnus Labuschagne sidelined by Glamorgan team-mate Nick Selman's positive Covid test

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Glamorgan's quarter-final hopes hit with Selman, Labuschagne, Neser left out of squad for Middlesex game

Nick Selman has tested positive for Covid-19

Glamorgan's hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast have been hit by news that Nick Selman has tested positive for Covid-19 and that Marnus Labuschagne is a potential close contact.

Selman, the top-order batter, is the club's second-highest run-scorer in the Blast this year with 130 runs in six innings, and will spend 10 days in self-isolation after returning a positive result from a PCR test, ruling him out of four T20 fixtures.

Perhaps the bigger blow is the loss of Labuschagne, who, along with his compatriot Michael Neser, has been identified as a "potential close contact", leading the club to withdraw them from the squad to play Middlesex at Radlett on Sunday.

Labuschagne is Glamorgan's highest run-scorer and seventh in the competition's run charts overall, and has also taken seven wickets while conceding only 7.43 runs an over with his legbreaks. With Colin Ingram also playing as an overseas player, Neser has not yet been required in the Blast.

The club confirmed that Sunday's fixture against Middlesex would go ahead as planned after the rest of the club's playing and coaching staff all returned negative Covid tests. Billy Root and Sam Pearce - Wales' captain in National Counties cricket - have been added to the squad as cover.

Glamorgan are seventh in the South Group, three points behind fourth-placed Sussex having played a game more, and are running out of time to put a string of wins together and propel them into the knockout stages for the first time since 2017.

Several counties have been affected by positive Covid tests and enforced periods of self-isolation over the last two seasons. This year, Durham, Surrey, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex have all had players miss games due to positive tests or track-and-trace requirements, while Hampshire, Yorkshire and Northamptonshire were affected last season.

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