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FORMER TEAM MATES GO HEAD TO HEAD IN OPENING FIXTURE

8 April 2016

For six years Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson shared a dressing room at Yorkshire with Chris Silverwood. On Sunday, past friendships will be temporarily put to one side as the two men pit their coaching brains against each other in Gloucestershire's opening Championship fixture against Essex at Chelmsford.

"I obviously know Chris really well, along with Anthony McGrath, who Essex have also brought in" said Dawson. "He's a very driven man - he certainly was as a player -and I learned a lot from him. He's been coaching for a few years now, starting out as their second XI coach and then working under Paul Grayson until the end of last season."

Silverwood's appointment following Grayson's departure was confirmed in December and it's been a winter of change at Essex. Reece Topley and Mark Pettini have joined Hampshire and Leicestershire respectively, and there's a new captain too, wicket keeper James Foster being replaced after five seasons by another long serving player, all rounder Ryan Ten Doeschate.

They have also bolstered their seam bowling options by recruiting Matt Dixon from Western Australia and Auckland's Matt Quinn. Both have UK passports, and Dixon bagged five cheap wickets in a 527 run victory over Cambridge MCCU last week, a game in which opener Jaik Mickleburgh scored two centuries, and Nick Browne and Tom Westley one each.

LAST SEASON:

The corresponding fixture was another early season affair which Gloucestershire won by nine wickets with Liam Norwell taking a career best 6-33 in the Essex second innings and 10-65 in the match.

"It was a low scoring game where the pitch did offer something for the seam bowlers" Dawson went on. "Will it be as green this season ? We'll find out when we get there, but we'll be prepared for all eventualities. I know our seamers took the bulk of the Championship wickets across last season as a whole but spinners  Tom Smith, Jack Taylor and Miles Hammond can all bat in the top eight so it gives us good options."

TEAM NEWS :

Head coach Richard Dawson has selected a squad of 13 which includes Western Australia opening batsman Cameron Bancroft, who only arrived in England on Tuesday. Among the bowlers there could be Championship debuts for Gloucestershire for Chris Liddle, recruited from Sussex during the close season, and summer long Yorkshire loanee Josh Shaw. Academy seamer Ollie Currell is included with David Payne and Craig Miles not available because of injuries. Neither are thought to be long term.

Squad : Dent, Bancroft, Cockbain, Roderick (c), Marshall, Howell, Noema-Barnett, J. Taylor, Shaw, Norwell, Liddle, Hampton, Currell.

"You hope the work you've done in the winter puts you in a position to succeed in the summer, and playing Essex is a good marker" said Dawson. "They've got some seasoned professionals and Alistair Cook is going to be available as well but we can take confidence from winning there last year and knowing that if we play good cricket we give ourselves a chance. We've got Cameron Bancroft in to bat at the top of the order who's arrived off the back of being Western Australia's player of the year and he's chomping at the bit to get involved."

You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website.

For live "Ball by Ball" action click here  for BBC Radio Gloucestershire's commentary.

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