Match Preview: Klinger back for quarter final clash
25 August 2015
Gloucestershire welcome back influential batsman Michael Klinger to their squad for the Royal London One-Day Cup quarter final against Hampshire.
The Australian – who recently signed a new two-year deal with the club – is contention to play for the first time since sustaining a hamstring injury in making 135* against Durham in the group stages.
He is joined in the Glos squad by Hamish Marshall who us yet to feature in this year’s competition due to a calf problem.
The pair are part of a 13 man squad with the 11 players that took the field in the defeat to Surrey last week.
Seamer Craig Miles and batsman Ian Cockbain remain absent through injury.
Gloucestershire Squad: Chris Dent, Will Tavare, Michael Klinger, Hamish Marshall, Gareth Roderick (w), Geraint Jones (c), Benny Howell, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Jack Taylor, James Fuller, Tom Smith, David Payne, Liam Norwell.
Hampshire
Hampshire name an unchanged 14-man squad for their visit to the Bristol County Ground.
Mason Crane, Joe Gatting and Gareth Berg are all included alongside the eleven that faced Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge last week.
They go onto the match as the only side still in with a chance of winning both domestic one day competitions having reached NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day.
They finished third in their group after winning four and losing three of their seven completed matches.
Hampshire Squad: Michael Carberry, Jimmy Adams, Adam Wheater (w), James Vince (c), Liam Dawson, Sean Ervine, Will Smith, Joe Gatting, Gareth Berg, Chris Wood, Yasir Arafat, Danny Briggs, Mason Crane, Fidel Edwards.
Key Man
With more than 300 runs at an average of over 75 and 14 wickets at 21, Liam Dawson has been a pivotal player with bat and ball.
In a squad boasting a number of internationals, the 25-year-old has outshone more illustrious team-mates including James Vine and Michael Carberry.
The allrounder – who bowls left arm spin is the third highest wicket-taker after the group stages.
His most impressive RL One-Day Cup performance came in the game against Sussex where he scored an unbeaten 73 before bowling his side to victory with 6-47 – the best figures in this year’s competition.
What They Say
Speaking to Hampshire’s official website -rounder Liam Dawson said: “I think Gloucestershire are a well-drilled outfit and when we’ve been there before we’ve perhaps underestimated them a bit as a side – that’s something that we’re not going to do this time.
“We know that if we play well we should beat them and as long as we’re on our game and put in a good performance we should do well. There’s a Lord’s final on the line which is an unbelievable day out so we’ll make sure we’re switched on and hopefully take some confident heading into (NatWest T20 Blast) finals at the weekend.”
Opta Facts
- Gloucestershire come into this quarter-final on the back of two defeats, the last time they lost three consecutive games in the same season was in 2011.
- Gloucestershire have won five of their last six home games, however the solitary defeat was in their last game at Bristol.
- Liam Dawson is the only player to have scored 300+ runs and taken 10+ wickets this season (303 runs and 14 wickets).
- If he plays Jimmy Adams will make his 100th List A appearance in this match. Yasir Arafat meanwhile could make his 250th appearance and is five wickets shy of 400.
- Geraint Jones has hit 16 50s in his List A career but never hit triple figures with a high score of 87.
Head-to-Head
| Gloucestershire | Hampshire | |
| Games | 56 | 56 |
| Won | 28 | 26 |
| Lost | 26 | 28 |
| Tied | 2 | 2 |
| Win % | 50 | 46 |
