Sell out Kent clash key to T20 hopes
11 July 2015
Gloucestershire's chances of reaching the knockout stages in this season's T20 Blast will be signifianctly influenced by the outcome of Sunday's home game with South group leaders Kent at the College Ground.
Although a good team performance saw Gloucestershire win the reverse fixture at Beckenham last month, it was a minor blip in a campaign that has seen Kent record eight wins from 11 matches, the latest over Somerset on Friday night.
The two sides have never met in an authentic T20 Blast game at Cheltenham before, although in 1994 when a List A match was reduced to 20 overs a side, half centuries by Matthew Fleming and Carl Hooper helped Kent score 227 on their way to a 50 run victory.
It's that type of batting that head coach Richard Dawson must be careful of again on Sunday.
"Kent are playing some seriously good cricket in T20, their top order is explosive and they are a very dangerous team, so there's no question we'll have to be at the top of our game against them" he said.
"We've played some good cricket ourselves in the last few games and although we lost to both Sussex and Surrey that wasn't in my opinion down to poor cricket. We then went to Taunton and put in a decent performance to beat Somerset. We're not the finished article in T20. There are still areas we can improve on, and there's no doubt Kent will be a good test for us."
Dawson confirmed that the injury situation means he will make a late selection of the final eleven, but that his decision may be influenced by winning the Championship match against Northants in two days.
"To have that extra preperation time is good and it also enables the quicker bowlers to take the weight of their feet for a bit longer" Dawson said. "We've had a tough couple of weeks and we know the Cheltenham Festival is always a busy time so not to be out in the field for a couple of days is an added bonus."
Spectators are reminded that the match is a sell out and only members and ticket holders will be admitted to the College Ground. No tickets will be available on the day.
