Spotlight On: Gloucestershire - Glamorgan's Next T20 Opponent
T20
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/
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Spotlight On: Somerset - Glamorgan's Next T20 Opponent
T20
After an inconsistent start to their T20 Blast campaign. Glamorgan take on Somerset at Sophia Gardens on Sunday afternoon. This is the second in our series profiling each opponent that Glamorgan will face in this season’s T20 Blast.
Somerset, coached by Jason Kerr and captained by Lewis Gregory, are based at the County Ground in Taunton. Somerset have an excellent recent history in all formats, winning the One-Day Cup in 2019, routinely competing at the top of Division One of the County Championship, and are reigning T20 Blast champions.
Record This Season
After a shaky start, which included winning and losing high scoring encounters with Essex and Kent, and then losing comprehensively against Surrey, Somerset have been dominant in their last two games.
Showing the form that won them the T20 Blast last season, Somerset piled on 241-5 against Hampshire last Sunday before bowling Middlesex out for just 78 on Tuesday.
That ability to perform with bat and ball when required is the hallmark of Somerset’s T20 excellence and they will be a real test for Glamorgan on Sunday.
Key Man
Somerset’s batting is very consistent, with one or two of their line-up stepping up each game. In the bowling ranks, however, one bowler stands out.
Ben Green has an extraordinary T20 bowling strike rate of 12.4 and is the top wicket taker in this year’s competition, with 13 wickets in five games. Green was also among the top wicket takers last season too, taking 30 in 17 games, placing second behind his former teammate Matt Henry.
Green’s standout performance so far this season was is 5-29 against Hampshire.
The 26-year-old is a handy batter too, often coming into bat at 7 or 8 to offer some late-order hitting to supplement the Somerset batting effort.
Overseas Players
After Matt Henry’s excellent season in 2023, Australian quick Riley Meredith had big shoes to fill in this Somerset team.
So far, Meredith has been more than worthy of his place in the line-up, taking nine wickets in four games, with an outstanding economy rate of just 6.13.
Tasmanian bowler is well known for his fast bowling, routinely pushing the speed gun beyond 90mph. He has also represented Australia at international level, making his One-Day International and T20 International debuts in 2021.
Past Glories
Somerset ended 18 years without T20 silverware with last season’s triumph. 2005’s victory may be a distant memory for some, but Somerset were exceptional that year, with South Africa legend Graeme Smith scoring 64* as the west country county comfortably beat Lancashire in the final at The Oval.
Last year, they were even better, losing just two of 17 games on their way to the title. At finals day their bowling attack came to the fore, bowling out two strong batting line-ups: Surrey in the semi-final, and Essex in the final.
Wildcard
Will Smeed is an exciting talent and a controversial figurehead for the development of English county cricket. Smeed, 22, has had a meteoric rise at Somerset and Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred, scoring the first 100 of the Hundred in 2022.
Just a couple of months after his breakout innings, Smeed signed a white ball only contract at Somerset, attracting criticism from some. His decision kick-started a conversation about the future of cricket, with the rise of T20 cricket and the decline of red ball cricket.
Smeed, though, has maintained his excellent form for Somerset, most recently scoring 68 from just 30 balls against Kent.
Weaknesses
Somerset are not without their flaws. While their batting line-up is formidable, they have been prone to collapse this season, most notably against Surrey. On that day, Surrey’s seam bowlers bowled an excellent attacking line, targeting the stumps and giving little width to the Somerset batters.
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 strong batting line-up.
Glamorgan play Somerset on Sunday 16th June, with play starting at 3:00pm. You can get your tickets at shop.ticketing.cm.com/glamorgan-ccc/