We Can Learn From Northants - Michael
27 April 2013
Michael Klinger believes Gloucestershire can learn from a "more mature" Northants side following a seven-wicket LV=County Championship defeat by the Second Division leaders at Bristol.
The new skipper was honest in his assessment of the team performance, admitting there were clear areas for improvement.
Michael was also left to reflect on new injuries to Benny Howell (hand) and Liam Norwell (groin), which could affect selection for next week's visit to Leicestershire.
The captain told this website: "We are certainly not being very lucky with injuries at the moment. It's too early to say whether Benny and Liam will miss the next game, but they were unable to field today.
"Benny hurt his hand batting yesterday. We don't think there is any broken bone, but it is bruised, while Liam has developed a groin problem, which is also being assessed by our medical team.
"There were positives in the match for us. Cameron Herring was clearly a plus and several of our batsmen put together decent scores without going on to a really big one.
"But I think it's fair to say Northants are a more mature team than us at the moment and played the more mature cricket.
"They bowled well in pairs and put together some good partnerships when batting, never giving us quick wickets in a cluster.
"These are things we must learn from. From a personal point of view I enjoyed my first game as captain at Bristol and the support we received.
"I'll be looking to build a big score myself against Leicestershire because I haven't quite hit my straps yet and hopefully we can turn in a more effective team performance."
Gloucestershire began the final day against Northants on 280-9 and were bowled out for 299, with Jack Taylor last to go for 48.
That left Northants requiring 88 to win and they reached 90-3 off 22.3 overs just before lunch.
For more details click on match reports.
