Match Preview | Kent v Glos | Vitality Blast
23 May 2023
Gloucestershire begin their T20 Vitality Blast campaign away to Kent on Wednesday looking to get off to a positive start in the South Group after narrowly missing out on a quarter-final place last season.
T20 cricket returns to Bristol this Friday as Glos play Glamorgan! Tickets available here.
Last time out
Glos ran out victorious when the two sides met at Canterbury last season as David Payne took a match-winning 4/15 from his 4 overs with Shire restricting the hosts to 114 all out.
Captain Jack Taylor then hit 31* to steer Gloucestershire to a six-wicket win inside fifteen overs.
Team news
Dale Benkenstein travels east with a 14-strong Gloucestershire squad containing new signing Grant Roelofsen, fresh from a string of impressive performances with MI Cape Town in the SA20.
Roelofsen is joined in the squad by fellow top-order batters Miles Hammond and James Bracey who opened the batting in the 2022 6-wicket win.
David Payne has recovered from ankle surgery and looks set to play after playing an integral role in Perth Scorchers' Big Bash League triumph in Australia over the winter. The left-armer makes the squad alongside fellow seamers Matt Taylor and Josh Shaw.
Gloucestershire have a multitude of spin options with Tom Smith likely to feature in his eleventh T20 campaign for the Club, Ollie Price and Zafar Gohar who could make their Blast debuts, and Jack Taylor who will captain the side.
Netherlands’ 11-wicket T20 World Cup hero Paul van Meekeren could make his first start of the season for Glos, while Chris Dent could play after missing the trip to Canterbury last season through injury.
Ben Charlesworth also makes the squad after nailing down his place in the four-day side with back-to-back half-centuries batting at three in Division Two, and could make his T20 debut alongside 19-year-old Joe Phillips who signed his first pro deal with the Club on Tuesday.
Your 14-man Gloucestershire squad to face Kent
Our opponents
Kent will begin the 2023 campaign with a point to prove after propping up the South Group in 2022.
Three wins from fourteen games inspired the county to sign Glamorgan legend Michael Hogan and former Notts youngster Joey Evison, who will join experienced T20 pros Joe Denly and Sam Billings looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2022.
The addition of Australian white-ball specialist Kane Richardson also bolsters the Kent bowling options, while England international Zak Crawley has joined up with the Ashes squad and will miss the fixture.
The Kent squad to face Gloucestershire:
Sam Billings*, Arafat Bhuiyan, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Alex Blake, Jordan Cox, Joe Denly, Joey Evison, Michael Hogan, Jack Leaning, George Linde, Tawanda Muyeye, Kane Richardson, Grant Stewart.
This fixture will be unavailable to watch in the Glos Cricket Match Centre. You can watch the match for a fee of £5.99 on www.kentcricketplay.co.uk.
For more information see here.
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