Benny's top 5 reasons to catch a Glos T20 Blast match
13 May 2016
With the countdown on to the start of Gloucestershire’s 2016 NatWest T20 Blast campaign, allrounder Benny Howell gives his top five reasons to get to the Brightside Ground and catch the action.
1. Friday nights under the lights…
Floodlit cricket comes to Bristol for the first time with six games under the lights starting with Gloucestershire v Sussex on May 20.
Having the floodlights this year means Friday nights are going to be massive!
The 6.30pm start means more people will be to come and the atmosphere will be awesome.
Nothing beats watching cricket under lights and the game against Sussex on Friday will be the first time it’s ever happened in Bristol.
As a player it is much more intense under lights. It feels like you are literally under the spotlight as you can’t see the crowd but the playing area is lit up. I can’t wait to get out there on Friday.
Tickets are only £3 for under 19s and if you bring a group of family or friends there are money off details for five or ten people so it is a really affordable night out. Click here for tickets
2. Maxy’s back…
Gloucestershire hero and last year’s NatWest T20 Blast MVP (Most Valuable Player) Michael Klinger returns to Bristol to captain the side.
Maxy has got to be the best player ever not to have been capped by his country. He has been unbelievable in domestic cricket here and in Australia for the last few seasons and it is a massive boost to have him back.
His consistency and the way he executes under pressure are amazing. Every time he needs to take a single or hit a six he seems to be able to do it.
He gave the supporters plenty to shout about last year and I have no doubt he will do it again this year.
3. Big Hitting…
Bring your hard hats, Benny says it will be raining sixes when Gloucestershire bat this year
We’ve been putting in a lot of work in with power hitting coach Julian Wood and you will see a lot more of the guys clearing the ropes. Even Tom Smith is starting to whack the ball now!
We will be playing no fear cricket this year and we will be targeting scores over 200 when we bat.
Me and Jack (Taylor) have got a competition on between us to see who will be the first to clear the flats – I’m feeling pretty confident, bring it on!
4. Eyes on the prize…
After winning the Royal London One Day Cup last season, the players are targeting T20 success in 2016.
With the squad we have we feel the T20 is a competition we can do really well in and we want to at least make the quarter finals this year.
The lads will take a lot of confidence from winning the RL Cup last year and who knows how far we can go in this.
The signing of Andrew Tye (Australia international fast bowler) is massive. He is a really skilful bowler with lots of variations and slower balls and will really add to our attack.
Lids (Chris Liddle) coming in gives us great experience in white ball cricket and I am backing him to do well.
With the bat Marshy (Hamish Marshall) is in good form and looking full of confidence. I don’t know whether he learned a thing or two playing with Brian Lara in the Masters Champions League but he is looking better than ever and I think along with Maxy he is our one to watch on the batting front.
5. Watch us take on the top players in the world…
From Chris Gayle to Kagiso Rabada and Mahela Jayawardene to Mitchell McLenaghan some of the biggest stars of world cricket will light up the Brightside Ground this summer.
As a player you always want to test your skills against the best players in the world.
We are looking forward to taking on players like Chris Gayle and Aaron Finch and it will be great for the fans to see these guys playing in Bristol.
In our first match against Sussex we are coming up against Luke Wright who can be devastating in T20 and Ross Taylor who is one of the most consistent players in the world across all formats so it will be a good test.
