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    Match Preview - Essex v Gloucestershire

    26 July 2019

    Gloucestershire will be looking to capitalise on their terrific form at the Fergal O’Brien Cheltenham Cricket Festival as they travel to Chelmsford to take on Essex in their third Vitality Blast match.

    The team travelling East have enjoyed great success at the Festival, picking up an impressive victory over Middlesex on Thursday and almost bowling out Glamorgan for a sub-hundred score in their competition opener.

    Benny Howell has been Gloucestershire’s talisman picking up five-for against Glamorgan and adding another wicket alongside a crucial knock of 33 to help his team to their first T20 victory. His performances haven’t gone unrecognised either, he currently sits third in the PCA Vitality Blast MVP rankings.

    As a result of the torrential rain last week, the batsmen in black and yellow have only had one opportunity to make some runs. Miles Hammond was top scorer with 63 off 35 with 12 fours.

    Prior to the T20 campaign, Hammond declared that he felt like a different player, hungrier for bigger scores after his first taste of the Vitality Blast last year.

    “I’ve got to keep working hard and try to go further next time,” he said after his player of the match performance against Middlesex. “If I reach sixty odd again then I’d try to take it the full 20 overs, it would be nice to finish the job for the team.”

    Gloucestershire’s 14-man squad for tomorrow’s game:

    Klinger, Hammond, Cockbain, Bracey, Higgins, J Taylor, Howell, Tye, Smith, Payne, Liddle, van Buuren, Dent, T Price.

    Essex come into the game with one win and one loss on their record. The loss coming against the same Middlesex side that Gloucestershire just defeated, with the addition of AB de Villiers.

    Cameron Delport and Ryan ten Doeschate have both posted impressive numbers for the Eagles, 129 and 74 not out respectively, while Matthew Quinn has taken four wickets over the two games, a welcome bonus for the Essex team with two overseas bowlers (Shane Snater and Adam Zampa).

    Both 2018 Vitality Blast fixtures between these two sides were abandoned at Cheltenham College and Chelmsford. The last time they did play a T20 game against each other was in August of 2017, a game Essex won by 3 wickets at the Bristol County Ground.

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