Mustard to lead side in Championship opener
6 April 2017
Wicket keeper Phil Mustard will captain Gloucestershire in Friday's opening County Championship fixture in Division 2 against Kent.
Click here to follow the match live via our online scorecard
Mustard, whose loan from Durham last summer was converted into a permanent move during the closed season, leads the side because Gareth Roderick is ill.
Head coach Richard Dawson has opted to take a squad of 13 to Canterbury, including Cameron Bancroft - fresh from his success in the Big Bash with the Perth Scorchers - and two bowlers who could make their Championship debuts for the club, Chris Liddle and Oli Currill.
Squad :
Dent, Bancroft, Tavare, van Buuren, Hankins, Cockbain, Mustard (c), J. Taylor, Miles, Payne, Norwell, Liddle, Currill.
Click above to hear head coach Richard Dawson's full pre season thoughts.
The top order batting has a youthful look without the experience of Hamish Marshall and Michael Klinger from last season, and Dawson says there is bound to be a period of adjustment.
"There is an opportunity for people to stake claims for places left by two very good players, and while you can look at replacing the runs, the other things that they brought with them as people might take a while."
"We need to be playing better first innings cricket this year" Dawson went on. "Half way through a game we don't want to be fighting for a draw or trying to win it out of the blue. We need to be better on the first two days, and with three consecutive four day games it'll be a heavy workload for the bowlers early on."
For Bancroft, it's a second stint at Gloucestershire having played five early season games in 2016 until Michael Klinger arrived. It included the draw at Canterbury a year ago, when Jack Taylor steered Gloucestershire to safety in the final session, and he's hoping to pick up where he left off for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, where he scored a century in his last game against New South Wales.
"It's been good to catch up with the boys since I got back, there's a lot of energy here and I'm looking forward to playing" Bancroft said. "Runs are my currency. Last year I hadn't been exposed to county cricket and you can talk to as many people as you like, until you feel it for yourself it's not the same. Last year I did ok in patches and I think I'll be better off for the learning experience. Kent have a good bowling attack with a lot of depth. They'll be tough to beat but it's a good game to start with to see where we are."
If the 2017 structure to the County Championship had been in place last year, Kent would now be playing Division 1 cricket, having finished as runners-up to Essex in a season when only the champions were promoted.
They have signed former Gloucestershire all rounder Will Gidman from Nottinghamshire after a loan spell, and on Wednesday added James Harris on a loan deal from Middlesex to bolster their bowling attack even further, and Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson says experience is a big asset to the Kent squad.
"Stevens, Denly, Northeast, Bell-Drummond, Tredwell......they're a good side, and they've bullied us in the Championship in the last couple of seasons. It's going to be a tough Division 2 this year with Nottinghamshire and Durham coming down. We want to strive for the top two places. How we do that is something we have to work our way towards by coming together as a team and making sure we perform."
Coverage :
You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @Gloscricket
Click above to listen to Cameron Bancroft's full interview ahead of the new season.
