Gloucestershire currently sit fourth in the South Group and will be hoping to repeat the performance that saw them to a relatively comfortable win in Cardiff last week. They have a busy few days, travelling to Taunton on Friday night, before this game on Saturday night, having been in Canterbury for their County Championship game this week. They will be hoping they can keep up their energy levels, although most of the T20 side will not have played in the Championship game.
Glamorgan do not have quite the same depth in their squad, with the majority of their Blast side also being involved in Championship cricket. After a poor start to the competition, with just two wins from their first eight games, they need to build a string of positive results if they are to maintain a challenge for a quarter final spot. The main issue has been a failure of their batters to post a big individual score around which to amass a challenging team total. They will however be boosted by their win this week against Sussex in the four day format.
Gloucestershire currently have the services of South African Kiwi Glenn Phillips, who has had three scores of 40 or more in his last four T20 games. He has been joined by Pakistani seamer Mohammad Amir, who replaces Naseem Shah, who had to return home due to family illness. They also have a core of experienced white ball cricketers, with the likes of Benny Howell, Ryan Higgins, Ian Cockbain and David Payne, under the leadership of Jack Taylor.
Colin Ingram has replaced Marnus Labuschagne (who is now in Sri Lanka on Australia duties) at three in the Glamorgan batting order and he will be hoping to build on the big century he registered in their Championship game this week. Michael Hogan has been Glamorgan’s most effective bowler in this format, with 15 wickets and conceding just 7.38 runs/over.
Gloucestershire will undoubtedly start as favourites, with Glamorgan looking to turn things around.
Key players:
James Bracey’s England appearances last summer seem a long time ago now. He is not a renowned ball striker but was the main contributor to the win in Cardiff, with 63 off 49 balls. He has been batting in the top three and will be key to getting the Gloucestershire innings off to a fast start.
Kiran Carlson has had a disappointing start to the season in both Championship and Blast formats. He has previously been spoken about as someone who might be looked at by England, but has needed to show greater consistency. He and Glamorgan will be hoping a big score is not far away.
Team News:
While, Hogan has been cleared following his COVID infection, wicket keeper, Chris Cooke injured his calf muscle in this week’s Championship game. He is replaced by young England under 19 keeper, Alex Horton, who has performed well with the bat in second team games. He comes in ahead of Tom Cullen. Another beneficiary from strong second team performances, posted in the process of winning their T20 competition last week, is batter Tom Bevan. In the semi-final, the 22-year-old broke the Club record for the highest-ever individual score in T20 cricket, with 132 not out.
Glamorgan squad: David Lloyd (c), Tom Bevan, Eddie Byrom, Kiran Carlson, Dan Douthwaite, Michael Hogan, Alex Horton (wk), Colin Ingram, Jamie McIlroy, Michael Neser, Sam Northeast, Andrew Salter, Prem Sisodiya, James Weighell
Graeme van Buuren, Ben Charlesworth and Paul van Meekeren have been out with injuries. David Payne will be a big loss having been called up to the England ODI squad currently playing the Netherlands. Chris Dent is back in the squad having not played in the competition so far this season.
Gloucestershire squad: Jack Taylor (c), Mohammad Amir, James Bracey (wk), Zak Chappell, Ian Cockbain, Chris Dent, Miles Hammond, Ryan Higgins, Benny Howell, Glenn Phillips, George Scott, Josh Shaw, Tom Smith, Matt Taylor
Weather and Conditions
After a hot, dry end to the week, Saturday looks more unsettled with the possibility of showers.
Scoring runs is usually not too much of a problem at Bristol.
Date: 18th June 2022
Time: 6:30 pm
Ground: The Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol
Odds (SkyBet): Gloucestershire Evens Glamorgan 8/11
