Although the NatWest T20 Blast is currently the centre of the county attention there is one last Specsavers County Championship match before the break to fully concentrate on the shorter format of the game. It begins on Sunday when Gloucestershire face Worcestershire at Cheltenham.
Worcestershire head into the match in second place in the table and have the chance to close the gap on leaders Nottinghamshire while Gloucestershire can climb the ladder a little more if they can find the win.
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire have played the fewest amount of matches of anyone in the second division but an indifferent beginning to campaign means that if they are to harbour hopes of promotion they are going to need to have quite some second half to the season beginning with a win in this match.
Gloucester go into the contest looking to stay unbeaten in their three matches at Cheltenham having already beaten Glamorgan in the Championship and tied with Middlesex in their NatWest T20 opener. If their top order can get back to churning out big runs there could still be a solid ending to the season.
Worcestershire
Right from the very outset Worcestershire were my idea of the winners of this division and a win here would put them right in contention for that. Nottinghamshire are the early pacesetters in the league but Worcestershire have this game in hand of them and trail them by just 26pts so a big win here would be massive.
Worcestershire lost their way for a couple of weeks around a month or so ago when the Tom Kohler-Cadmore situation was playing itself out but they look to have found their mojo again and will go into this match confident despite their defeat in the Blast on Friday evening. Worcestershire’s bowling is going very well.
Team News
Gloucestershire are set to name the same eleven that beat Glamorgan in their previous match. Michael Klinger is only playing limited overs cricket so he would not be involved even if he was fit.
Worcestershire are without Moeen Ali from their last match as he is on international duty but Joe Clarke is back from being away with the England Lions.
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Betting
I’m not betting on this match for a number of reasons. Firstly the odds are about right which is never ideal and secondly this is T20 time and both sides will have been concentrating their practice around that so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a low scoring match here and a bit of a lottery match as a result.
The other reason is that this is a club ground so the wicket might not be the best which could further act as a leveller. I’m on Worcestershire outright so there is no need to push anything here. I can follow with interest and hope they win.
Tips
No Bet
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