Hamish Rutherford joins Glamorgan as Marnus Labuschagne leaves early

Australia batter returns home for family reasons, as New Zealand opener replaces him

Labuschagne has not had the same impact in this season’s County Championship as he did in 2019, when he made 1114 runs in 10 games shortly before his breakthrough as a Test player in that summer’s Ashes series. He had made only 151 runs at 25.16 in his eight innings this season, though has been prolific in the Vitality Blast, scoring 294 runs in six innings to lead the club’s run charts.

Rutherford, who has previously played county cricket for Derbyshire, Essex and Worcestershire, will play for the club in the Royal London Cup and in the final four Championship games of the season.

Mark Wallace, the club’s director of cricket, said: “Marnus leaving is obviously a loss but to replace him with someone the calibre of Hamish is a massive bonus for the club.

“He has a proven track record of scoring runs in both first-class and List A cricket over here and is the right character to have in the dressing room for our younger players to learn from.”