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Vitality Blast Preview | Glos v Kent Spitfires

16 June 2023

St Pauls Carnival brings the party to the Seat Unique Stadium when Gloucestershire meet Kent Spitfires this Saturday night for the inaugural Carnival Clash.

Glos sit sixth in the Vitality Blast South Group and need a win to keep a qualification spot within reach. Kent Spitfires also need two points to keep quarter-final hopes alive having only picked up four points in seven games so far.

There will be no better place in the South West to spend your Saturday night than in glorious sunshine at the Carnival Clash.

Tickets for Glos v Kent available here.

Team news

Dale Benkenstein selects a 15-player squad for Saturday, with Miles Hammond taking over captaincy duties from Jack Taylor.

Tom Price could make his first start in the Blast this season after recovering from a back injury, while Grant Roelofsen also recovers from the hip injury that kept him out of Shire's recent four day match.

Chris Dent is taking an indefinite break from T20 cricket for personal reasons and is unavailable for selection. Chris will continue to be available for selection in first-class and 50-over cricket.

James Bracey is being rested due to the high volume of cricket he has played in recent weeks. James will be available for selection for the match against Hampshire Hawks on Tuesday.

Dom Goodman misses out due to an ankle injury while Ed Middleton also misses out as he continues his recovery from a side strain.

View from the camp

Speaking ahead of his captaincy debut, Miles Hammond said:

“We’ve got a lot of games coming up and we just need to try our best to be brave with the bat and ball, play the cricket we want to play and trust the process in what we want to achieve. Positivity is really important, especially with the bat, we haven’t got an over-par score yet so far in the competition and it’s a case of trying to give our bowlers a bit more to play with.

“We need to have trust in our own ability to try to go out there and be fearless, especially for the young lads, and that’s where I see it’s my job to try to facilitate that and take the pressure of players where I can. If I can help bring through some of the younger players playing that way and thinking that way then further down the line it’ll be like second nature for everyone.

“We’re always going to want to win every match but the way we’re going to do that is by going out there and being fearless and also accepting that we might fail sometimes and being ok with that.”

Your 15-player Gloucestershire squad to face Kent Spitfires:

Miles Hammond*, Zaman Akhter, Ben Charlesworth, Zafar Gohar, Danny Lamb, David Payne, Ollie Price, Tom Price, Grant Roelofsen, Josh Shaw, Tom Smith, Jack Taylor, Matt Taylor, Graeme van Buuren, Ben Wells.

Last time out

Gloucestershire fell victim to the Somerset steam train last Friday after an inspired 35-ball 94 by 21-year-old Will Smeed steered the visitors to their record total in Bristol of 231/4.

In response, Gloucestershire kept up with the rate until the halfway point thanks to a swashbuckling partnership between Miles Hammond and Ben Charlesworth but when the Glos numbers two and three were removed, Shire lost their last six wickets for 28 runs.

Our opponents

At the time of writing, Kent Spitfires last match was a win over Hampshire last Friday when they chased down a target of 178 in the final over.

Daniel Bell-Drummond hit 89 from 55 balls in Canterbury as Kent won their second T20 fixture of the season.

The Spitfires may have equalled Gloucestershire’s point tally by Saturday as they play Ryan Higgins’ Middlesex who currently prop up the table having not won in eight Blast fixtures. 

The Kent Spitfires squad to face Gloucestershire:

Sam Billings*, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Alex Blake, Jordan Cox, Joe Denly, Joey Evison, Nathan Gilchrist, Michael Hogan, Fred Klaassen, Jack Leaning, George Linde, Tawanda Muyeye, Kane Richardson, Grant Stewart.

Last meeting

Glos played Kent Spitfires in their opening Blast match of the campaign, falling to a seven-wicket defeat in Canterbury. Bowled out for 113 in that match, Shire will be determined to reverse the fortunes of that match.

The emergence of Ben Charlesworth and Ollie Price as key performers in the T20 side for the Shire will give new captain Miles Hammond confidence going into the latter half of the group stage.

How to watch

Gloucestershire face Kent in the Vitality Blast at 19:00 on Saturday 17th June at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.

Tickets to support the Shire in person available here.

If you can’t make it to the ground on Saturday, the game will be available to watch on Sky Sports Cricket.

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