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Taylor hopes to spin Glos to silverware

27 August 2014

Jack Taylor is hoping to cap a superb comeback season by getting his hands on the Royal London One-Day Cup.

The spinner – who was forced to remodel his action last year – has played a key role in the team’s march to the quarter finals where they face Kent at Canterbury this Friday (August 29).

He said: “It would be great to finish the season with some silverware. We have played some excellent cricket in the Royal London One-Day Cup and now we have made it through to the quarter finals we want to go all the way. Kent will be a tough match and there are some other good sides left but if we perform like we know we can then we are confident against anyone.”

Jack has impressed with bat and ball in the 50-overs-a-side competition taking nine wickets at 20.56 and scoring 101 runs at 33.67 so far.

And he says he has loved being back in the team after enduring a difficult 12 months during which he questioned whether he would rediscover his best form.

He said: “Initially I did have a few concerns because you don’t know what’s coming next. It definitely made me realise how much I enjoy playing the game and make me more determined to get back in the team.

“On a personal level it’s been nice to be back in and helping the boys win some matches. I’ve been playing some reasonably good cricket and I just want to try and keep my form going.”

Kent finished second in their group after winning four and tying one of their group matches. Their line-up includes Sam Billings who tops the competition’s batting averages with 357 runs at 119. But they will be without their top wicket-taker, Australian seamer Doug Bollinger, who has flown home to link up with the Hobart Hurricanes prior to their Twenty20 Champions League campaign in India.

Jack says Glos haven’t been preoccupied with their opponents but have instead focused on their own skills ahead of the last eight clash.

He said: “Throughout the competition we haven’t been too worried about the teams we were playing. We will obviously have game plans to certain individuals we come up against but the most important thing is to execute our own skills.

“If we play our cricket then we back ourselves to be able to compete with anyone.”

With Gloucestershire having narrowly failed to progress in the NatWest T20 Blast and currently sitting sixth in the LV County Championship, the RL One-Day Cup represents the club’s last chance for silverware in 2014.

And Jack says it is a competition the players have had their eye on all season.

He said: “We felt right from the start of the season that with the balance of our squad, this format would suit us best. We bat very deep and have got good variety in our bowling – it all fits nicely together. The exciting thing is that we haven’t been firing on all cylinders yet so I think there is still a lot more to come.”

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