Match Preview: Gloucestershire v Glamorgan
28 August 2020
Abysmal weather was the only winner on the opening day of the Vitality Blast for Gloucestershire and Glamorgan who will both be hoping for a better outcome on Saturday.
Two weeks ago, the two sides met in the Bob Willis Trophy in a match that Glamorgan did well to avoid defeat after the first day was lost to rain. However, recent success against the Welsh club doesn’t factor into preparations for Gloucestershire captain Jack Taylor.
“They finished bottom of the South Group last season but we don’t look too much into that,” Jack said. “We’ve played some good games against them over the last few years and a couple of years ago they made it to the T20 semifinal so we can’t underestimate them. We have to turn up tomorrow and put in a good performance to hopefully come away with a win.”
Gloucestershire took a point from their match on Thursday against Northants after substantial amounts of rain completely soaked the outfield. That wasn’t the ideal start to the tournament or great preparation for this match but Jack insists there's more to it than just getting time on the field.
“Obviously the time to prepare is quite short but it’s more about getting mentally ready. We’ve given each player specific responsibilities to focus on and everyone is raring to go. Every team is in the same situation this year so I don’t think it’s a huge issue.”
George Scott and Ben Charlesworth could potentially make their T20 debuts for Gloucestershire and Chris Dent could feature in the shortest format for the first time since 2016.
David Payne is only one wicket away from taking his 100th wicket for The Shire in T20’s. Only Benny Howell (109) has managed to reach the century milestone.
James Bracey has so far only played on one day of a preseason friendly against Somerset and will be counting down the minutes to when he can walk out with a yellow and black shirt on. Bracey contributed 245 runs and had 10 dismissals in last year’s competition and Taylor believes he will be equally important to the team this time round.
“He rejoined the team from the England bubble a couple of days ago and he’s itching to get back out there having not played a competitive match for about a year.
“It’s great to have him back, whenever he is called upon he’s stepped up for both Gloucestershire and England. Each time he was introduced to a different format he delivered straight away and he will be a big part of our success this year.”
Gloucestershire have named an unchanged squad from the match against Northants:
Glamorgan come into the game on Saturday in the same situation as Gloucestershire having had no T20 match practice. Tomorrow’s game will be the first of four in six days for the visitors who will be looking to find momentum early in the competition.
Glamorgan will have to do without their two top run scorers from last season; David Lloyd is out with a broken foot and Colin Ingram who was unable to come to Wales due to travel restrictions.
They have added Irishman Andrew Balbirnie who usually bats at number three, filling the hole that Ingram has left. The 29-year-old made 113 in Ireland’s ODI victory over England earlier this month.
Marchant de Lange will be coming into the game on a high after an unexpected maiden century in the Bob Willis Trophy against Northants that included 6x4’s and 9x6’s.
Glamorgan’s 14-man squad for tomorrow:
Chris Cooke (c,wk), Andrew Balbirnie, Lukas Carey, Kiran Carlson, Marcant de Lange, Dan Douthwaite, Michael Hogan, Owen Morgan, Billy Root, Andrew Salter, Prem Sisodiya, Callum Taylor, Timm van der Gugten, Graham Wagg.
The match will be streamed via the Gloscricket match centre here with commentary from Rob Scanlon and Alex Winter. Play begins at 2pm, coverage starts at 1:45pm.
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