Preview: Dawson explores different options for trip to Leicestershire
4 September 2017
Head coach Richard Dawson has chosen three players with only one Championship appearance between them for Gloucestershire this summer in a squad of 12 for Tuesday's penultimate away game of the season against Leicestershire at Grace Road.
Batsman James Bracey, who made his Championship debut in the final game of last season against Sussex at the Brightside Ground, is included along with Josh Shaw, who has yet to appear since re-signing on loan from Yorkshire, and Matt Taylor, whose solitary game was the defeat to runaway leaders Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
David Payne - who failed a fitness test ahead of last week's game at Worcester - Craig Miles and Will Tavare are the players omitted from the squad.
"David will play in the second XI this week and we'll see how he comes through that" Dawson said.
"We couldn't select him for Leicester if we weren't sure he could bowl 20 overs in a day."
"We have decided to make a few changes although the shape of the team will depend on conditions at Grace Road.
"Josh and Matt have been pushing for places with their bowling in the second XI, and James got a hundred against MCC Universities two weeks ago and a fifty against the MCC Young Cricketers last week.
"He's a good young player and he may get the chance this week to add to his one previous game."
Squad:
Dent, Bancroft, Roderick, Bracey, Hankins, Mustard (c), J.Taylor, Noema-Barnett, Smith, M.Taylor, Norwell, Shaw
Gloucestershire need to close a gap of 33 points between themselves and fifth placed Northamptonshire if they are to finish in the top half of the Division 2 table, but Dawson is more concerned about some core elements of his team's performance.
"There are clearly some things we need to do better" he went on.
"We need batsmen to not just get starts but to go on and make hundreds (there have been only five in the Championship this summer) and we must manage the scoreboard with the ball. We keep on talking about it, and it especially applies in the first innings of games.
Whenever we have bowled well Liam Norwell and David Payne have had good opening sessions, and recently Kieran Noema-Barnett has done an effective holding job which has been important in giving us control over the scoring."
Leicestershire come into the game having parted company with head coach Pierre de Bruyn after only one season. He has left immediately and Graeme Welch and John Sadler will be caretaker charge for their three remaining matches.
De Bruyn leaves with Leicestershire having not won a Championship fixture under his tenure. Their 11 results to date have seen them draw five games and lose six, including the reverse fixture at the Brightside Ground in April, when Gloucestershire won by an innings and six runs with a day to spare.
Since then Leicestershire's resources have been bolstered by the loan signing of South African seam bowler Mathew Pillans from Surrey, and now former England left hander Michael Carberry has joined the Foxes from Hampshire for the rest of the season with a view to a permanent move being sorted out during the winter.
A reminder that the scheduled start of play in all the remaining Championship matches has been brought forward by 30 minutes to 10.30am.
Coverage:
You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @GlosCricket
