Alex Signs Off At Canterbury
22 September 2014
Alex Gidman makes his farewell appearance for Gloucestershire in the final LV=County Championship match of the season against Kent at Canterbury, starting tomorrow.
But brother Will Gidman has been left out of the squad, having been under treatment for a shin injury, so he has already played his last game for the club before leaving to join Nottinghamshire.
Alex, who will be moving to Worcestershire for next season, goes into the Kent match as the only Gloucestershire batsman to have reached 1,000 first class runs for the season.
He is on 1,126 following his career best 264 in the last game against Leicestershire at the Bristol County Ground, while Will Tavare needs 91 more runs to reach 1,000 in his debut season.
Will Gidman, who marked his final Gloucestershire appearance with a century in the Leicestershire game, finishes with 852 first class runs this summer at an average of 53.25. He also claimed 40 wickets.
Gareth Roderick tops the batting averages going into the Kent game, despite having his season heavily disrupted by twice breaking the same finger. The wicketkeeper has scored 459 runs in just six innings at an average of 76.5.
Gloucestershire will finalise a team for the last match of the season after assessing the Canterbury pitch.
A squad of 12 will travel, including two specialist spinners in Jack Taylor and Tom Smith and four seamers in Craig Miles, Liam Norwell, David Payne and all-rounder Benny Howell.
Gloucestershire go into the match eighth in the Second Division and looking to overtake Glamorgan, who lie just six points above them.
The Welsh county face promotion-seeking Hampshire at Cardiff in their final fixture.
Gloucestershire (from) C.Dent, W.Tavare, G.Roderick (wkt), A.Gidman (capt), H.Marshall, I.Cockbain, B.Howell, T.Smith, J.Taylor, C.Miles, L.Norwell, D.Payne.
