News

Klinger back in Bristol for first home Vitality Blast match

10 July 2018

Gloucestershire will go into their first home Vitality Blast match against Kent at the Brightside Ground on Wednesday (3.00pm) with skipper Michael Klinger back in action in Bristol for the first time this season.

Tickets are available on the gates for:

£20 Adult

£5 Junior (18 & under)

Gloucestershire's opening T20 match in Bristol was moved forward to 3.00pm following discussions with Sky and the ECB. This will allow fans to come to the match ahead of being able to support England in their historic World Cup semi-final against Croatia. 

The Club will be showing the England game in the Optimum Sports Bar after the match, so come and join us for two exciting games at the Brightside Ground!

A request from the Australian Cricket Board means Andrew Tye's return to Gloucestershire colours will have to wait until Friday's local derby with Somerset.

It has been hoped that the 31 year old - who played for Gloucestershire in T20 cricket in 2016, and for his country in the same format against Pakistan on Sunday - would be available for Wednesday's game but the ACB asked that after travelling from Harare, Tye would not feature in Gloucestershire's opening home fixture.

It means Head Coach Richard Dawson will choose his final eleven from a squad of 13, with the injured Benny Howell and Thisara Perera dropping out of the group on duty against Middlesex at the weekend, and Kieran Noema-Barnett being included for the first time in the competition this season.

Squad : Klinger (c), Hammond, Cockbain, Roderick, Hankins, Higgins, J.Taylor, van Buuren, Noema-Barnett, Smith, Payne, M.Taylor, Liddle.

"We improved our performance from Taunton at Uxbridge and now we have to do that day in, day out in this tournament" Dawson said. "We bowled well, fielded much better and held our catches. Michael Klinger and Miles Hammond then set our innings up, and Miles being a left hander means bowlers aren't able to settle. Michael played nicely and the others batted well around him, which was very pleasing."

Benny Howell didn't bat after coming off the field during the Middlesex innings, which meant Gareth Roderick came in at number four, a position he is familiar with in first class cricket and with the extent of Howell's absence unclear at this stage, head coach Richard Dawson says the middle order may rotate depending on the match conditions.

"We have some flexibility and power which gives us options" Dawson went on. "The games come around quickly in T20 and home or away it's about turning up and playing the conditions in front of you. That's what happened when we reached the quarter finals in 2016, and this year we would certainly like to perform better in Bristol."

Kent come to the Brightside Ground in excellent white ball form, having reached the final of the Royal London Cup and started their Vitality T20 Blast campaign with wins over Surrey and Somerset.

Overseas signing Carlos Brathwaite has taken six wickets in only seven overs, and with Joe Denly taking a century off the Surrey attack in Kent's opening game, Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson says backing up the win over Middlesex will take another good performance.

"We've not come up against Brathwaite before but we do know they've got a strong batting line up because we've seen that for ourselves in the 50 over competition. I can't ask any more than for us to do what we did the other day against Middlesex, and then see how the result turns out."

Coverage:

You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @Gloscricket.

Ball by ball commentary is also available on the BBC Sport website.

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