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MATCH PREVIEW: Klinger calls for collective improvement

9 May 2017

Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger has called for a significant raising of performance levels if the team is to qualify for the knockout stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Kent are the visitors to the Brightside Ground on Wednesday in the South group with both sides having lost three of their four matches so far, and Klinger knows the chances of retaining any interest in the latter stages of the competition hinge on the result.

"The way the group is set up we've made it difficult for ourselves but if we could get some momentum then you never know" said the popular Australian.

"Even though we're a little way behind there is still an opportunity there if we are willing to do the hard work and put the next win on the board."

Gloucestershire v Kent - Royal London One-Day Cup - Wednesday 10 May - Click here to book tickets at the advance price

"I think in all three aspects - batting, bowling and fielding - we have been 15-20% below our best as a group. My coach in Australia, Justin Langer, talks a lot about individuals wanting to put in a man of the match performance that wins you the game. Liam Norwell with the ball, and then Ian Cockbain and Benny Howell with the bat did it at Lord's but that's been about it. We've spoken about taking games by the scruff of the neck and hopefully the guys will respond."

Head coach Richard Dawson has added batsman George Hankins to the squad which has been used for the previous four games.

Squad:

Klinger (c), Mustard, Dent, van Buuren, Cockbain, Hankins, J.Taylor, Howell, Noema-Barnett, Smith, Norwell, Liddle, M.Taylor, Miles.

Opponents Kent recorded their first win in the group on Sunday in a low scoring match against Middlesex, but until then it wasn't runs that were the problem. Batting first in all three of their earlier games, they twice scored over 300 but still lost on each occasion despite two centuries from Daniel Bell-Drummond and another from Alex Blake.

"Kent are a strong batting side with some other dangerous players like Denly and Stevens" added Klinger.

"What we've seen so far is a bit movement early on with the two new balls and then the pitches have become good for batting so teams have maybe been two or three wickets down for not very many and still been able to get big scores. What we need to do is be better at converting our starts individually and put less pressure on the guys in the middle order."

Gloucestershire will be back in action at The Brightside Ground, Bristol, on Friday, in the first derby match of the season against Somerset. Click here to book tickets

Coverage :

You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @Gloscricket

Tickets to watch Gloucestershire Cricket in the NatWest T20 Blast are now on sale. Click here to view the fixtures and book tickets.

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