Match Preview - Gloucestershire v Middlesex
20 April 2019
Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson has named a squad of 13 for the second match in the South Group of the Royal London Cup against Middlesex at Lord's (Sunday, 11.00).
There is certain to be one change as Ian Cockbain is resting the niggling calf injury which curtailed his involvement in the win over Surrey.
Gloucestershire 13 man Squad:
Dent (c), Hankins, Bracey, Hammond, Roderick, Howell, J.Taylor, Higgins, van Buuren, Smith,
Worrall, M.Taylor, Liddle
The match sees Ryan Higgins and Tom Smith face their former county, and both - on opposite sides - were involved in the match two years ago in which Liam Norwell took five wickets before Ian Cockbain and Benny Howell secured victory with an unbroken sixth wicket stand of 192.
"We played well as a team that day and that's what we have to do to turn over sides with the big names" said Smith. "When we won the Royal London Cup in 2015 everyone was chipping in and in the last couple of years we've had some stand out performances without the consistency you need."
"We have a small squad but everyone has the backing of the others in the group. We're clear in our roles and we could play almost any combination. You have to be flexible, and Richard (Dawson) is big on our fielding as an athletic group and also looking no further than the next game. We did a lot of good things in beating Surrey but we also spoke after the game about what we can do better."
Middlesex started their campaign with a victory at Chelmsford on Friday, skipper Dawid Malan top scoring with 95 and Nick Gubbins and George Scott also making half centuries to set Essex 367 to win before leg spinner Nathan Sowter took six wickets to seal the points by 38 runs.
Overseas signing Ross Taylor isn't available until their game with Surrey on Thursday, but Smith believes Middlesex still represent well balanced opposition.
"There has been a lot of change there with Stuart Law and Nic Pothas coming in on the coaching side, and they'll be looking at their white ball cricket because they've under performed for a number of years" he added.
"They've got match winners throughout, particularly people like Eoin Morgan and Paul Stirling, so we'll do our due diligence in terms of preparation even though we've played them a lot. Dan Worrall added a lot as a senior fast bowler against Surrey with his aggressive bowling at the start of the innings. We got into the middle order by the end of the powerplay, and we go to Lord's with the belief that we can win again."
