Seam Quartet In Squad For Festival Opener
28/07/2010
Steve Kirby is named in a strong Gloucestershire Gladiators squad for the Clydesdale Bank 40 clash with his old club Yorkshire at Cheltenham on Thursday (1.45pm start).
The Festival opener features a top of the table clash in Group B of the 40-over competition and Alex Gidman has the option of utilising his senior pace quartet of Kirby, Jon Lewis, Anthony Ireland and James Franklin.
Spinners Vikram Banerjee and Richard Dawson are also in the 12 and final selection will depend on an examination of the College Ground pitch.
Franklin looks set to open the batting with Will Porterfield, with skipper Gidman at three. A long batting line up could also feature Chris Dent, Hamish Marshll, Chris Taylor and Steve Snell.
The match could be pivotal to the semi-final ambitions of both teams, but Gidman is keen to reduce any pressure on his team.
He said: "We failed to do ourselves justice at Cheltenham last year because of the expectation placed upon us so this time we are telling the lads to relax and enjoy it.
"We are in strong positions in both the Clydesdale Bank 40 and the Championship so if we don't do as well as we hope to there will be enough games to put it right. That's a big difference, which should mean less pressure."
Alex is delighted to be playing the Yorkshire game at Cheltenham where his team have a good record against them in recent years.
"We seem to get the better of them whenever we play them at the Festival," he said. "Hopefully, that will be in the back of their minds and give us a psychological edge."
Gloucestershire Gladiators (from) W.Porterfield, J.Franklin, A.Gidman (capt), C.Dent, S.Snell (wkt), H.Marshall, C.Taylor, A.Ireland, J.Lewis, S.Kirby, V.Banerjee, R.Dawson.
