News

Klinger refreshed for T20 campaign

5 July 2018

Popular Australian Michael Klinger celebrated his 38th birthday on Wednesday, and Gloucestershire's overseas star had admitted that good news at home regarding his wife Cindy's health means he comes back to the club re-energised mentally and physically for the 2018 Vitality T20 Blast.

There would have been a time during last winter when supporters would have been surprised to see Klinger again given his wife's cancer diagnosis, but progress on that front means he will wear the club's colours for a sixth consecutive season in the shortest format of the game over the next two months.

"Cindy had some good results about six weeks ago and once we got those I was able to confirm that I would be coming over again" Klinger said. " She still has to have some some ongoing treatment but from where she was five or six months ago we're in a lot better place. My season in Australia finished at the start of March as I needed to be around a bit more at that point, but before flying over I had done some pre-season work with Western Australia and I've had a good week's practice here to get my skills in order and ready to go."

Gloucestershire's second overseas player, Andrew Tye, is available from July 11th and so misses the first two away games against Somerset and Middlesex, but when he joins up with the squad Klinger believes it will further strengthen a bowling group which is now close to full fitness.

"David Payne and Liam Norwell are both looking good after their injuries and are pushing for selection, and from what I've seen of the batsmen young guys like James Bracey and Miles Hammond are batting well and putting pressure on the more senior players" Klinger added. "I think we're in the best position in my time here in terms of squad depth and having all bases covered, and so some really good players are going to miss out against Somerset."

The 14 man squad for Friday's game has been confirmed as follows :

Klinger (c), Hammond, Hankins, Cockbain, Howell, J Taylor, Higgins, van Buuren, Roderick, Perera, Smith, Payne, Norwell, M Taylor.

Gloucestershire were well placed in the Royal London Cup game at Taunton earlier in the season before rain intervened, and they face their old rivals twice in the first four matches in the South Group, which is made up of the same teams as in the 50-over format. Somerset made the quarter finals in the Vitality T20 Blast last season after finishing fourth, and Klinger expects them to give Gloucestershire a challenging start.

"It's normally a good wicket at Taunton and we've done well against them in the last two seasons but they have a well balanced attack with a couple of good spinners so we need to plan well up front with two games close together against them" Klinger concluded.

"We'll look to be aggressive with our bowlers and take wickets rather than contain, even if it means we risk conceding a boundary. At the end of last season the bowlers did really well to try and defend some low totals when the batting didn't click, but now we start again over 14 games. It's a long tournament and it's about us staying hungry in every match and each individual trying to deliver a man of the match performance every time. If we have that attitude it'll go a long way towards us being successful."

Coverage:

You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @Gloscricket.

Ball by ball commentary is also available on the BBC Sport website

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