PREVIEW: No changes anticipated for Festival derby
8 July 2017
Gloucestershire have the chance to move into the top six of the Championship table if they can back up the win over Glamorgan with a victory over promotion chasing Worcestershire at the Cheltenham Festival.
The local derby, which was first played at the College Ground in 1903, starts on Sunday and is the only Division 2 fixture until early August as the Nat West T20 Blast takes over the diary in the coming weeks.
The Gloucestershire team is expected to be unchanged from the victory against Glamorgan, and head coach Richard Dawson is anticipating another game played at a brisk tempo, especially with the way Worcestershire approach their cricket.
"We've not played them yet this season but we had a good game against them at New Road last year and we know we'll have to play to our maximum" Dawson said. "They have some talented young players like Joe Clarke and those around them hold things together. Joe Leach is having a good season as captain and Daryl Mitchell has made a lot of runs. What we must make sure we do is play the conditions better than we did on day one against Glamorgan, particularly if we bat. We've got to assess what is happening and act accordingly."
Recent matches between the teams at Cheltenham have not lacked incident. Liam Norwell and Craig Miles broke Gloucestershire's record partnership for the tenth wicket at the 2014 Festival - although Worcestershire still won the game by 8 wickets - while in 2013 Michael Klinger made 92 as Gloucestershire chased 194 to win on the final day.
David Payne, who like Craig Miles is approaching 200 Championship wickets, says it would be difficult to match what he termed the "crazy" events of the first day of the Festival.
"I'm expected a flat pitch and a lot of runs. Liam Norwell and Craig Miles have had a few days off so they'll be fresh, and in Division 2 Worcestershire are strong and are always there or thereabouts so we'll have to hit the ground running. If they choose to bowl, and we can bat in the same way as we did in the second innings against Glamorgan we could rack up a big score, but we won't know what's possible until we see the wicket."
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You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @GlosCricket
