Enigma Howell has his variations ready for Hove
31 July 2018
All rounder Benny Howell is hopeful of keeping Gloucestershire right at the front of the South Group in the Vitality T20 Blast as the team starts a sequence of three away games in five days against Sussex on Wednesday (7.00pm).
The distinctive 29 year old may have spent the first half of the season opening the batting in four day cricket, but it is a bowler in the shortest format where he has excelled over the past two seasons, taking 40 wickets at less than 16 runs apiece, and with an economy rate of only 6.40 runs per over.
Howell raided his vast vault of different deliveries - far more than in the fourteen elements in Edward Elgar's famous orchestral work - on his return to the team after injury against Glamorgan at Cheltenham, conceding only 23 runs in his four overs on what is a traditionally fast scoring ground and taking the wicket of Joe Burns as Gloucestershire recorded a 30 run victory.
"The deliveries I use are the ones I'm most confident with" Howell said. "Some of them are match ready, some aren't and at times you can use too many just for the sake of it. I have to go into a game with a clear plan of which deliveries suit each batsman and not get confused about which balls to bowl."
"In T20 cricket you need a team to gel and everyone has to chip in. So many games go to the last over that right down the order it's important for a batsman to know that hitting 10 runs off the last two or three balls could decide a result."
"If we can have a big week we can put ourselves in a great spot to qualify for the quarter finals. We were in a similar position last year and then didn't bat very well later in the tournament. This time we'll try to keep batting with the intent we have shown so far, and maintain that throughout all the innings in all of the games."
Head coach Richard Dawson is keeping his options open for the trip to Hove by naming a squad of 15 players, with Graeme van Buuren, Craig Miles and Matt Taylor travelling along with the twelve which played at Cheltenham, when substitute fielder Chris Dent took a fine catch to dismiss Chris Cooke.
For their part Sussex have added Will Beer, Delray Rawlins and Ollie Robinson to the team which saw their game last Friday at Canterbury against Kent cut short by rain.
Gloucestershire squad :
Klinger (c), Hammond, Cockbain, Howell, Higgins, J.Taylor, Noema-Barnett, Roderick, Tye, Smith, Payne, Dent, van Buuren, Miles, M.Taylor.
Sussex squad :
Salt, Wright (c), Evans, Bruce, Burgess, Wiese, Archer, Jordan, Khan, Briggs, Mills, Beer, Rawlins, Robinson.
Hove is the first port of call on an 800 mile road trip this week which will end back in Bristol late on Sunday night, and Howell knows the Sharks will be keen to improve their own position after two washouts.
"We're familiar with their side and even though we have played them recently in the Championship we still do our analysis because this is a different game" added Howell.
"I was at Hampshire with Danny Briggs, I played in the same team as Jofra Archer in the Bangladesh Premier League and while I was there I played against Rashid Khan a couple of times. He is a superb T20 bowler, one of the best in the world, and we have to have clear plans about how to play him."
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.
