Glamorgan captain Rudolph wants to stay in role despite batting woes

Glamorgan captain Jacques Rudolph says he wants to remain in the post for 2017 despite his struggle for batting form.

"It does add a bit of pressure, but it's an honour and a privilege to captain Glamorgan. It is a challenge I would still like to accept," Rudolph told BBC Wales Sport.

Glamorgan finished eighth out of nine in Division Two, but reached the quarter-final of the T20 Blast.

Rudolph praised the team spirit but admits his future is not in his hands.

"If Hugh [chief executive Hugh Morris] feels I'm not the man for the job any more, then I would discuss it with him," he said.

"But those decisions will be made in the off-season."

Rudolph, who has played all formats of the game for South Africa, is promising hard work to improve on his 2016 season record of 659 Championship runs.

"It's been my toughest season, but hopefully I've got enough experience under my belt and when I go back to South Africa I will really work hard to rectify that," the 35-year old said.

With batsmen Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke scheduled to return after missing large parts of the 2016 season through injury, Rudolph believes signing an extra seam bowler will take priority for the county.

"You could pick from a group of seven to eight batters to compete for five, I think that's healthy competition," he said.

"But it would be nice if we could sign another decent seamer. We've been fortunate again that Michael Hogan, Graham Wagg and Timm van der Gugten have bowled a lot of overs without getting injured."

The 25-year-old van der Gugten, who will play for the Netherlands in January, is just relieved to have finished his first first-class season in one piece, finishing as Glamorgan's leading wicket-taker.

"It's been a bit of a shock to the season, but resting a couple of games has helped me. Hopefully I can bowl as many overs next season if not a few more," he said.

"It has's been a good learning curve and hopefully I can take it into next season."

One redeeming factor for Glamorgan supporters has been the emergence of young talent, with Aneurin Donald, Nick Selman, Kiran Carlson and Owen Morgan all hitting centuries, while teenage seamer Lukas Carey claimed 13 wickets in three matches to top the Championship bowling averages.

"At the start of the season I wasn't sure where my cricket was heading," admitted Morgan.

"But with nine first-class games, I'm in a better place going into this winter.

"I'll be still working hard on the bowling, keep the batting up alongside that and hopefully become a genuine all-rounder."