Surprised Glover to make the most of 'massive opportunity' in The Hundred

But the Northants Steelbacks pace ace is certainly not aiming to be out of his depth when he rubs shoulders with some of the elite of world cricket in the ECB’S new competition.

He may have only played a handful of matches for Northants, mainly due to theCovid-19 pandemic limiting his first-team chances in his first season at the club last summer, but the fast bowler has already made his mark in world cricket in the past couple of years, by helping bowl the Netherlands to the T20 World Cup.

South African-born Glover was denied the chance to compete in that tournament as coronavirus caused it to be postponed, but will be hoping the event goes ahead at the end of this year.

If it does, he could go into it with his profile raised by a considerable margin if he gets the chance to show what he can do for the Invincibles.

Whether you like it or not, and plenty in the world of cricket do not like it, The Hundred is set to create headlines this summer and will be shown worldwide on television.

It is a great chance for the 23-year-old to make a real name for himself, although he does admit the news of him winning a contract came a little out of the blue!

“When my agent told me that some teams were inquiring and that my name was being thrown about and teams were having a proper look in, I was just surprised by that to be honest.” Glover told nccc.co.uk

“It was very cool to hear that teams were even considering me, and then when I actually found out that I had been selected I was over the moon.

“I was slightly overwhelmed but was very proud to be picked up in such a big tournament.

“I was actually driving when I first found out so I couldn’t get too excited, but it was a bit of a surreal feeling.

“We had training the next day so I had to keep it tame, just a nice whiskey with my housemates but we’ll have a beer or two in celebration a bit further down the line too.”

Glover will be one of four Steelbacks players involved in the tournament, with skipper Josh Cobb being snapped up by Welsh Fire, and Adam Rossington and Mohammad Nabi - who will be making his Northants bow in this summer’s Vitality T20 Blast - both playing for London Spirit.

Glover’s team-mates at the Invincibles will include England players Jason Roy, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Rory Burns and Sam Billing, as well as West Indian pair Sunil Narine and Fabian Allen.

Other overseas players involved in the competition include the likes of Kieron Pollard, Shaheen Afridi, Kane Williamson, Adam Zampa, Mohammad Amir, Glenn Maxwell , AaronFinch and Andre Russell.

His coach will be Australian Tom Moody, and Glover can’t wait to test himself against some of the best players the game has to offer.

“Playing in a competition like The Hundred with a mix of different experienced guys will absolutely help my game,” said Glover, who showed that he has genuine pace in the Blast games he played for the Steelbacks last season, taking seven wickets in his seven matches.

“It’s a massive opportunity just to see how the best in the world operate and even though it’s a completely different format you can still link quite a lot with the two other white ball formats and particularly T20.

“It’s going to be great to watch and play with guys at that level and learn from them and try and pick up some hints.

“But it’s also nice to just put yourself against the best in the world and compete.”