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PREVIEW: Klinger pinpoints pivotal week in NatWest T20 Blast

24 July 2017

The chance to move to the top of the South Group - for 24 hours at least - is the carrot dangling in front of Gloucestershire as the NatWest T20 Blast comes to the Brightside Ground for the first time this season on Tuesday evening with the visit of Glamorgan (6.30pm).

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Gloucestershire have played only five games so far, but could overhaul Surrey on net run rate and lead the South Group table ahead of Friday's home game with Hampshire (click here for tickets) and Saturday night's trip to Chelmsford to play Essex, and skipper Michael Klinger knows it's an important few days.

"These games will go a long way towards deciding how we sit going into the back end of the tournament" he said. "It has been frustrating so far with two washouts and it has been hard to get much momentum. We have taken single points from the games with Sussex and Somerset, and it's hard to tell if that's good or bad because you don't know what the end results would have been. When you are playing good cricket you want to keep playing, and we've seen teams benefit from having multiple games in quick succession. Certainly having three in five days is huge for us."

Both teams will be thankful that the forecast is encouraging. Rain has meant Glamorgan have only completed one of their last four matches, while Gloucestershire haven't played since the win at Canterbury against Kent after Friday's local derby with Somerset fell foul of the weather.

Gloucestershire will expect to see David Miller's name on the scorecard in the Glamorgan side, the South African left hander having been signed last week and Klinger says he will add some fire power to a useful line-up.

"I would expect Miller to bat in the middle order to try and finish their innings off, but they may push him up if they start well" Klinger added. "Colin Ingram has been the best player in the tournament so far and we've been wary of him whenever we play Glamorgan because if he gets going he can be pretty dangerous."

Head coach Richard Dawson has named a squad of 13 for the match.

Squad :

Klinger (c), Mustard, Cockbain, Hankins, Roderick, Howell, J.Taylor, Perera, Smith, Noema-Barnett, Payne, M.Taylor, Liddle

The balance of the final eleven may well depend on the Brightside Ground wicket. So far the variations provided by Benny Howell and Tom Smith have seen them among the most economical bowlers and Klinger is clear as to why that is.

"We've seen a lot of dry wickets because squares have been extensively used with the 50 over competition early in the season" he said. "It would be nice to get some harder faster wickets because I think it produces better cricket although it is the same for both teams. Individually we haven't yet made the big scores you want to but the Brightside Ground is one where you can clear the fence if you get shots 100% right so it would be great to get a good crowd in on Tuesday and then again on Friday."

Coverage :

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