Dawson keeps options open for Northants
17 September 2018
Head Coach Richard Dawson's penultimate team selection of the season will be drawn from a squad of 13 as Gloucestershire finish their schedule of home games in the County Championship by welcoming Northamptonshire to the Brightside Ground on Tuesday (10.30am).
Ian Cockbain - a regular in white ball cricket but someone who hasn't featured in the last 17 Championship matches stretching back to August last year - and George Drissell are added to the team that beat Glamorgan at Cardiff last week.
"We've got a few aches and pains at this stage of the season and Ian has been playing well and scoring heavily in the second XI" Dawson said."George has been around the squad a lot since Cheltenham and both give us options on selection."
Squad:
Dent (c), Hammond, Bracey, Howell, Roderick, J.Taylor, Higgins, Charlesworth, Miles, Payne, M.Taylor, Cockbain, Drissell.
With Derbyshire to play in their final game, two wins could see Gloucestershire in contention to finish as high as fourth in the table, but Dawson says he's far more concerned about maintaining the standards the team has set recently.
"This week is an opportunity to back up some good cricket in the last three weeks in our final home game" he went on. "Just as there is no hiding behind what's happening when you play poorly, there is no secret as to why we've done well. On each occasion we've played good cricket in the the first innings, so that when both sides have had a bat and a bowl we've been in a position to dictate the game."
"It's something that we have always wanted to do and the collective level of confidence has grown as a result. Prior to that some lads were scratching around for some form and a level of consistency, and while you might expect the more experienced players to help the younger ones in that situation, it's the young ones like Miles Hammond, James Bracey and latterly Ben Charlesworth who have hit the ground running."
Northamptonshire have had a vastly different season to 2017, when they won nine Championship games and nearly went up. A year on, they have suffered eight defeats despite 89 wickets split between Ben Sanderson (53) and Brett Hutton.
Richard Gleeson has recently joined Lancashire, and although skipper Alex Wakely is back for this game, Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson wants his quartet of quicker bowlers to collectively push each other as his team look for a fifth Championship victory.
"Those boys have taken responsibility for their own game and done the simple things well" Dawson concluded. "If you do that, the collective outcome looks after itself, and it's been the same with the batsmen which has been nice to see."
"We lost at Northampton earlier this season so we're not complacent about this week. They have got some match winning players, but I'm more concerned about how we finish the season in front of our own supporters."
Coverage:
You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @Gloscricket.
Ball by ball commentary is also available on the BBC Sport website.
