Match preview : Overseas swap for visit of Northants
21 May 2016
MATCH PREVIEW - OVERSEAS SWAP FOR VISIT OF NORTHANTS
Batsman Michael Klinger makes his first Championship appearance of the season when Gloucestershire welcome Northamptonshire to the Brightside Ground in Division 2 on Sunday.
Klinger announced his arrival for the rest of the summer with an unbeaten 42 in Friday's narrow T20 defeat to Sussex, and comes into the squad in place of Cameron Bancroft at the top of the order as Gloucestershire look to back up their first Championship win of the season against Glamorgan.
Head coach Richard Dawson said "We want to play consistent cricket and it's my job as a coach to minimise the bad sessions and maximize the good ones. We were 98-5 on the first day so to claw ourselves back into it and then give ourselves a chance to win was a good effort. The first win is always important, but especially so this season when there have been so many draws with high scores. I was really pleased for the players."
SQUAD :
Klinger, Dent, Van Buuren, Roderick (c), Marshall, Hankins, Noema-Barnett, J Taylor, Miles, Payne, Shaw, Hampton.
LAST SEASON :
The home game with Northants last season was played at Cheltenham, where Gloucestershire recorded a nine wicket victory inside two days. A career best 156 from Jack Taylor and 5-28 from Craig Miles on the second evening left Gloucestershire to chase only 35 for victory.
This season Northants, like Gloucestershire, have lost to Essex at Chelmsford but all their other games have been drawn, and with a settled top order, Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson says once again taking 20 wickets will be a significant challenge.
"A few of their lads, especially Ben Duckett and Adam Rossington, are in good nick, and over the years they've generally had a strong batting line up. Even down the order people like Rory Kleinveldt and Oli Stone have got runs this season. David Ripley is a good coach and they'll be a competitive unit, so we need to build on what we did last week."
Dawson admitted to being frustrated by the finale to Friday's opening T20 fixture, but stressed there was no time to dwell on it with a busy Championship schedule to deal with.
"We lost by one run, we have to take it on the chin and move on" he said. " We didn't bowl as well as we should or could have done, and we'll need to improve that next time. There's a long way to go in the competition and it was good to see Michael Klinger in good touch straight away."
Klinger's experience will be valuable as Graeme Van Buuren and George Hankins continue their integration into the team, a process Dawson say both are justifying with their performances.
"Graeme had a really good debut and he had an influence in all four innings against Glamorgan" Dawson went on. "His spell with the ball on the second morning kept it tight, he held a couple of catches and was busy with his batting, and George is loving being in the team. He's a clean striker of the ball, he's shown he has the raw skills to be a fine player and he's raring to go again."
COVERAGE :
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