Vitality Blast Preview | Gloucestershire v Essex
29 May 2024
T20 cricket returns to Bristol on Thursday as Gloucestershire host Essex in the Vitality Blast to kick the competition across the country.
The Shire faced Northants Steelbacks in two warm-up matches at Cheltenham College on Thursday, with several first-team players acclimatising to the format after seven Championship matches on the bounce.
Essex visit Bristol for their first competitive T20 since last season’s Blast final at Edgbaston when they fell to a 14-run defeat to Somerset.
Gloucestershire will be determined to improve on a seventh-place finish in last season’s South Group, three wins off Essex who qualified in fourth before beating Birmingham Bears in the quarter-final.
VIEW FROM THE CAMP
TEAM NEWS
Mark Alleyne has selected a 15-player squad for the match against Essex, with Jack Taylor, David Payne and Tom Smith all drafted in for a potential first start of the season.
Taylor will captain a side that includes Australian overseas options Cameron Bancroft and Beau Webster, the latter of whom could make his T20 debut for the Club.
Your 15-man squad to face Essex:
J Taylor*, Bancroft, Bracey†, B Charlesworth, de Lange, Hammond, Middleton, Payne, O Price, Shaw, Singh Dale, Smith, M Taylor, van Buuren, Webster
OUR OPPONENTS
Last year’s tournament MVP Daniel Sams has returned to Essex for a third successive season after topping the team’s batting and bowling lists with 419 runs and 25 wickets.
Qualification hopes could depend on the Australian international’s form in 2024, while keeper-batter Adam Rossington hit a century in the Essex Second XI game against Sussex on Monday as the Chelmsford-side ran out victors by 135 runs.
LAST MEETING
Ben Charlesworth starred for Gloucestershire in a 391-run thriller in Chelmsford, hitting the joint fastest half-century for the Club. 19 balls it took Charlesworth, who was Shire’s leading run scorer in the competition last season.
A tense match went Essex’s way in the final over as the home side chased down 195 with five balls to spare.
BLAST TICKETS
Gloucestershire play four home matches at the Seat Unique Stadium beginning with Essex on Thursday 30 May 2024, before Cheltenham College hosts three Blast matches during the festival starting with Kent Spitfires on Friday 5 July 2024.
BRISTOL BLAST PASS
Gloucestershire will play four home matches in Bristol in 2024 and you can purchase one pass to watch all of the matches! The first of the four Vitality Blast matches will begin on Thursday 30 May 2024 when Essex visit the Seat Unique Stadium to kick off the tournament.
Reminder: Bristol Blast Passes must be purchased before midnight on Wednesday 29 May!
