PREVIEW : Mustard looking to back up Glamorgan win
4 August 2017
Wicket keeper Phil Mustard says Gloucestershire can restore some real momentum in their Nat West T20 Blast campaign if they can beat Somerset in tonight's sell-out local derby at the Brightside Ground.
Mustard made 57 - his highest score of the tournament - in Thursday's victory over Glamorgan under DLS, a result which lifted Gloucestershire to fourth in the South Group table.
"It was a wicket where the ball stopped a bit if you took the pace off it" Mustard said. "We lost Michael Klinger pretty early and I knew hadn't scored many runs in the last three games so I knew I had to get a job done for the team."
"We were probably 20-25 runs short of what we wanted because there were too many dot balls, and perhaps Glamorgan got a bit negative when Donald got out. I didn't think Ingram and Rudolph tried to score too many runs and then Perera bowled a great yorker off the last ball of the fifth over to give us the victory."
Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson has named an unchanged squad of 14 for tonight match.
Squad :
Klinger (c), Mustard, Cockbain, Hankins, Roderick, J.Taylor, Noema-Barnett, van Buuren, Howell, Perera, Smith, Payne, M.Taylor, Liddle.
Somerset come to the Brightside Ground having beaten Sussex under DLS in their last game, but having lost all rounder Corey Anderson for the rest of the tournament since because of a back injury. They have signed Pakistan left hander Fakhar Zaman to replace him although a delay in his visa means he misses tonight's match. Their squad of 14 includes three spinners - Roelof van der Merwe, Max Waller and Dom Bess.
Somerset squad :
S.Davies, Gregory, Allenby (c), Myburgh, Hildreth, Trego, Abell, van der Merwe, C.Overton, Leask, Groenewald, Waller, Bess, van Meekeren.
Both teams still have a live chance of making the quarter finals in a tight group and Mustard believes the top four may not be clear until the final round of matches.
"Everybody seems to be beating everybody and there are a lot of teams snapping at our heels" he went on. "We had two disappointments last week with the Hampshire defeat and the Essex game being rained off, but if we can put in a good performance we'll be right in the mix."
"Somerset have always been a tricky side to play. We obviously had rain at Taunton but we'll have a good chat pre-match, try and put on a good show and hopefully catch them on a bad day."
Coverage :
You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @GlosCricket
A reminder that with no tickets available for this evening's game, Gloucestershire's one remaining home fixture in the group stages of the Nat West T20 Blast is our designated Family Day against Essex (Sunday August 13, 2.30pm).
