Somerset Won't Take Us Lightly - Bracewell
2 July 2013
John Bracewell is warning Gloucestershire's players to expect a Somerset team fired up for revenge in Friday night's eagerly-awaited Friends Life t20 clash at Taunton.
In the corresponding fixture last season Gloucestershire pulled off a resounding nine-wicket victory, thanks to some excellent bowling and an opening stand of 115 between Hamish Marshall and Benny Howell.
It wasn't the first time in recent years that the underdogs have shocked Somerset's highly regarded one-day side, but Bracewell insists it will be tougher this time.
He told this website: “Somerset is a game we always look forward to. We played well at Taunton last year and they didn’t perform on the night.
“They will realise that and come all the harder at us when we next meet. We have to be prepared for that.
“Somerset won’t be as complacent with us as they were last season. They will have a strategy to take us on and will back that strategy.
“They like to bully the game and we have to resist that, so there is some very competitive and hopefully exciting cricket to come."
The match is the first of four potentially thrilling West country derbies, which lie ahead this season in the FL20 and Yorkshire Bank 40 competitions.
The return t20 game at Bristol at Bristol on Friday July 26th is already a sell-out and, with Somerset and Gloucestershire first and second in their YB40 group, the 40-over contests, at Taunton on August 11th and Bristol on August 26th, will have plenty at stake.
John Bracewell added: “Over the past 15 years one-day cricket in the West country has been strong, so it’s nothing new for Gloucestershire and Somerset to be competitive.
“We have a good record against them and that may be because they have taken us lightly. But they won’t be doing that this summer.”
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