Match Preview - Kent Spitfires v Gloucestershire
28 August 2019
Gloucestershire travel to Canterbury to take on third placed Kent in what is the first of two massive games that will decide the Club’s 2019 Vitality Blast South Group fate.
The Shire currently lie second in the South Group after winning four of the last six matches including home victories against fourth placed Somerset by 25 runs and the Spitfires by five wickets.
With other teams at the top dropping points, advancing to the knockout stages and securing a home quarterfinal are well within reach. One victory from the final two games against Kent tomorrow and Sussex on Friday would secure a top four finish and qualification to the knockout stages of the competition. Two victories would ensure Gloucestershire play the quarterfinal fixture at The Bristol County Ground.
In the reverse fixture, Gloucestershire came out on top with seven balls to spare as Benny Howell hit 25 off 14 to seal what was a nail-biting victory.
Howell turned out to be the top scorer for The Shire on a pitch that proved difficult to build high scores on. The outlier of the contest was Kent captain Daniel Bell-Drummond who faced 56 balls and made 62.
Without Bell-Drummond, Kent’s score might have looked far meeker than the 125 they posted. Payne, Tye, Liddle and Howell bowled remarkably to keep Kent to just 6.25 runs per over with big hitters Heino Kuhn, Mohammad Nabi and Ollie Robinson facing them.
Gloucestershire have enjoyed great success in recent times against Thursday night’s opponents with their last T20 loss to The Spitfires coming back in July 2016.
The Spitfires have hardly seen remnants of their early season form with three losses to Gloucestershire, Somerset and Surrey along with two washouts without a ball being bowled in their last five games.
Their last match was a defeat by a single run to rivals Surrey at The Spitfire Ground, a first home loss in this year’s competition.
However, Kent will be boosted by the arrival of South African captain Faf du Plessis who joins them for the remainder of the Vitality Blast. Du Plessis led the South Africa team in the World Cup earlier this year and averages 35.86 in IT20s.
The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00pm on Thursday, August 28 and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
Team news to follow.
