Dawson tells players to embrace One-Day cup quarter final - with video
24 August 2015
Richard Dawson will tell his players to embrace the big occasion when they take on Hampshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup Quarter Final this Wednesday.
The head coach hopes for a packed Bristol County Ground and that the home support will lift his squad in the club’s first home match in the latter stages of a competition since 2009.
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He said: “We’ve just got to enjoy the experience of playing in front of a full house in Bristol. It’s brilliant when we have played Somerset here in the T20 and we need to embrace it.
“We’ve played some great cricket in the one-day stuff here and the crowds have been fantastic and we just want that to carry on. We know we need to perform and work hard as well but would be brilliant to have a full house down here.”
To watch a full video interview with Richard on Hants, Klinger and his squad’s strengths as a one-day team click below:
Visitors Hampshire qualified for the knock out stages after winning three of their last four completed matches and recently reached NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day for a sixth consecutive year.
But Dawson says his young team will take confidence from a five wicket win over them in the T20 at the Brewin Dolphin Cheltenham Cricket Festival.
He said: “Whoever we were going to get pulled out against it was going to be tough but we can take confidence from having beaten them in the T20 at Cheltenham. We know we need to improve on our last two performances in the 50 over competition but we are looking forward to the challenge.
“To get a home tie is a fantastic effort by the lads.”
With key players including Michael Klinger, Hamish Marshall and Ian Cockbain having missed large parts of the One-Day Cup through injury, Gloucestershire have had to draw on their whole squad to help them reach the last eight.
Dawson believes the flexibility within the team and the ability for different players to step-in at key times has been crucial to their success.
He said: “We’ve had people contributing with bat and ball, often from positions that aren’t their most comfortable but doing a job for the team and getting us over the line.
“You can look through the whole squad and everyone’s made a winning contribution.”
Gloucestershire came out on the wrong side of a number of close finishes in the NatWest T20 Blast but have seen that pattern reverse in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
The side beat Derbyshire and Leicestershire off the final ball of their matches and recorded a first List A victory against Somerset since 2008 with just two deliveries to spare.
And Dawson believes these close encounters will be a real boost for the side going into the pressurised environment of a big knock out match.
He said: “We’ve got to go about it the same we have in the past. We’ve played some good teams in big games with a lot of pressure - getting to last over, last ball finishes and we can take a lot of confidence from coming through those and getting a win.
“It’s those experiences that can help us when we come to play Hampshire.”
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