News

South Group to go to the wire in One Day Cup

2 June 2018

Gloucestershire travel to play Kent at Beckenham on Sunday (11.00) knowing that whatever the outcome they will welcome Middlesex to the Brightside Ground on Wednesday with qualification - and possibly a home play-off - still open to them in the Royal London Cup.

Whilst one point seemed a meagre return from Friday's play against Somerset at Taunton - where four more overs would have seen a positive result - it could still make a difference in such a tightly contested group.

Head coach Richard Dawson will again choose from a squad of 13 as Gloucestershire face the in-form team in the tournament, Kent having taken their sequence of wins to four with a 220 run victory over Surrey on Friday, also at Beckenham.

Speaking after the abandonment at Taunton, skipper Chris Dent said "Kent are a similar side to Somerset with attacking batsmen at the top of the order so if we can soak up a bit of that pressure early on and take wickets throughout it will put us in a good position."

"We won at Beckenham a couple of years ago in the T20 when it was dark and cold so the omens are decent, and whenever we've been there it's been a good track so it could be a high scoring game."

Certainly a look at Friday's scorecard back up Dent's opinion. Kent made 384-8 against Surrey, equalling their highest total in 50 over cricket. Heino Kuhn added 93 with Daniel Bell-Drummond (48) for the first wicket, the South African then going on to complete his hundred and sharing in a stand of 138 with Joe Denly, who made 78. The margin of victory was down to Surrey's collapse to Darren Stevens, who took the last six wickets to finish with a career best 6-25.

Reflecting on the performance at Taunton, Dent said "Somerset got off to a flier but we dragged it back which showed great character from the bowlers and that's what you look for. One wicket can often bring two and getting a couple of run outs helped as well, it certainly set up an attainable target and we knew we'd be in a good position if we didn't lose wickets."

"We've got two games left, and I think we'll probably need to win both to be certain of going through. That's the attitude we'll go with."

Coverage:

You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @GlosCricket.

Ball by ball commentary is also available on the BBC Sport website.

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