After an inconsistent start to their T20 Blast campaign. Glamorgan take on Gloucestershire at Sophia Gardens on Thursday evening. This is the third in our series profiling each opponent that Glamorgan will face in this season’s T20 Blast.

Gloucestershire, coached by Mark Alleyne and captained by Jack Taylor in white ball cricket, are based at the Bristol County Ground in, you guessed it, Bristol.

Gloucestershire do not have much record to speak of in T20 cricket, despite excellent white ball pedigree in the 1990s and early 2000s. In the 21 editions of the T20 Blast, Gloucestershire have only gone beyond the group stage seven times, reaching finals day three times.

Record This Season

Gloucestershire won their first game of the campaign in some style, beating Essex by 5 wickets and with 18 balls to spare.

The West Country County went on to lose their next three against Sussex, Hampshire, and Sussex again.

They do come into this one with some form behind them, though, having tied in dramatic fashion with favourites Surrey and then thrashing Kent last Sunday.

Key Man

The key men in the team are a pair of left arm seamers. Matt Taylor and David Payne are joint second in the tournament’s top wicket taking charts, with 13 each from six games.

Payne has the higher profile, having earnt England honours in 2022 and been a Welsh Fire player for the Hundred.

Both bowlers have taken their wickets at an excellent economy rate: 7.00 for Taylor and 6.04 for Payne.

Overseas Players

Gloucestershire have a pair of Australians as their overseas stars, opening batter Cameron Bancroft and towering all-rounder Beau Webster.

Bancroft, once the centre of the ‘sandpaper-gate’ storm, had previously been at Gloucestershire in 2016 and 2017, as well as playing for Durham and Somerset in the intervening seasons.

Webster has extensive experience in the Australian Big Bash, turning out for Hobart Hurricanes, Melbourne Renegades, and Melbourne Stars over the course of nine seasons. He offers a handy bowling option and a powerful presence in the middle order for Gloucestershire.

Past Glories

As mentioned, Gloucestershire do not have much T20 pedigree to speak of. Their best season came in 2007, when they lost in the final to Kent.

Iconic former players Hamish Marshall, Kadeer Ali, Jon Lewis, and Chris Taylor were not enough to stop a star-studded Kent side, that included Lasith Malinga, from winning the title.

Wildcard

Marchant de Lange may be the most wildcard player in the entire tournament.

Capable of the extraordinary, the South African-born bowler can reach speeds of 95mph, putting the fear into batters across the country.

He can, however, be wayward and expensive, but anyone willing to take on the 6”7 bowler is a brave cricketer.

Weaknesses

For all their seam bowling prowess, Gloucestershire are without a high-quality spinner in their side. Often this season, all-rounder Graeme van Buuren is their only spin option and with Sophia Gardens hosting some high scoring matches this season, the quality of spin that Glammy have in the form of Mason Crane and Marnus Labuschagne may decide this contest.

Gloucestershire also have a pretty inexperienced batting line-up, with their good performances this season entirely based around their seam bowling talent.

With experienced T20 bowlers in the form of Timm ver der Gugten and Jamie McIlroy, Glamorgan will be confident that they can make vital early in-roads into what is a relatively weaker batting line-up.

 

Glamorgan play Gloucestershire on Thursday 20th June, with play starting at 6:30pm. You can get your tickets at shop.ticketing.cm.com/glamorgan-ccc/