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Match Preview - Derbyshire v Gloucestershire

17 August 2019

Gloucestershire return to Specsavers County Championship action as they travel to Derbyshire with the hope of solidifying a top three spot in Division Two.

The team have been in great form as of late and despite a number of unforeseeable injuries, the Club has acted quickly to ensure a strong squad travels to the Midlands.

Seam bowler Josh Shaw signed a three-year deal with Gloucestershire this week having spent time in Bristol earlier this year on loan. Fans of The Shire will be well accustomed to what Shaw can offer after seeing him on loan to the Club on four occasions over the past four seasons.

After proving himself under Dawson’s guidance, Shaw was offered multiple contracts but ultimately decided his future would be best spent in Bristol.

Josh has taken a mightily impressive 23 wickets in 6 matches for Gloucestershire in this year’s Specsavers County Championship.

Gloucestershire will also be boosted by the arrival of Essex loanee Ben Allison who signed a four-week deal to bolster the seam attack which will be without Matt Taylor and Benny Howell, who took five wickets between them the last time these sides faced one another.

Head Coach Richard Dawson spoke about returning to red ball cricket with some new faces:

“I don’t think we will need much time to gel together, we already have an idea of how we want to play our cricket. Most of the lads have been around for the majority of the season so we just have to get back into the pace of four-day cricket and show a bit of patience.

We can’t get sucked in to playing T20 cricket as we know from our games at Cheltenham, they can be one in the last twenty minutes on the fourth day so we just have to be patient.”

The travelling squad also features 18-year-old academy player Dominic Goodman. The seam bowler from Buckinghamshire has recently played for the Gloucestershire second XI taking three wickets against Sussex second XI in a three-day game and one against Kent second XI in T20 format.

“He’s played well in the second team, so we’ve brought him into the squad. He’s another new face but it’s exciting and a good opportunity for him,” Dawson said. “With the injury of Benny we’ve had to find a way to fill that hole which creates a chance for someone and we see it as an opportunity rather than anything else.”

Gloucestershire’s 13-man squad to face Derbyshire:

Dent, Hammond, Bracey, Roderick, Smith, Higgins, van Buuren, Charlesworth, J Taylor, Payne, Shaw, Allison, Goodman.

The reverse fixture ended in a draw after both teams found it difficult to take wickets after day one. Roderick (98), Madsen (204*) and Hughes (109*) all faced at least 230 balls from the second day onwards which meant a winning result was always going to be hard to come by.

Since then, Derbyshire have failed to maintain similar scoring and lie seventh in Division Two with the joint second lowest batting bonus points.

On the contrary, Gloucestershire have had regular high scoring from big hitter Ryan Higgins. He has the fifth most runs with 744 at the highest strike rate of anyone in the top 30 (runs scored) at 77.09. Chris Dent has also been in the runs for The Shire making 722, although his approach is much more calculated which is evident when you consider only Hassan Azad and Cameron Bancroft have faced more balls in the entire division.

Should Gloucestershire win, they could jump above Glamorgan and into second place in the division putting them further away from the chasing pack.

Derbyshire’s 12-man squad:

Godleman, Reece, Madsen, Lace, Hughes, Hosein, Critchley, Du Plooy, Hudson-Prentice, van Beek, Palladino, Rampaul

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