The second of the Royal London One Day Cup quarter finals sees the most dominant side of the late 90s and early 2000s take on probably the best one day side of the last 5-10 years as Gloucestershire host Hampshire at Bristol.
These two sides are no strangers to winning 50 over titles but only one of them will progress to maintain a shot at this competition. Whoever wins will be into the semi-finals and will be one win away from the Lord’s final.
Gloucestershire finished second in their group to ensure they stage this quarter final. They only lost two matches in the group stage but they were the final two matches so they might have already peaked in the competition. They will be out to prove that isn’t the case here.
Hampshire were edged out into third in their group courtesy of a final match washout but other than having to travel I’m sure they will be pleased with the opponent they have landed against given the other three sides to come through Gloucestershire’s group.
Gloucestershire have confirmed that Michael Klinger will return to the squad for this match and that is a huge boost as he is an extremely significant part of their batting line up. He has two centuries from five matches in this tournament and is a full on run machine.
Hampshire have named a strong squad too even though they have T20 finals day at the weekend but this is a side accustomed to winning one day competitions and this will be a real focus for them in the immediate term before their focus moves to the T20 afterwards.
Hampshire have been in a good position going into this match in that they didn’t play in the most recent round of Championship matches so they have been able to focus purely on white ball cricket and practice. Gloucestershire did play in the Championship so their preparation time will have been limited, especially with the south of the country under water on Tuesday.
Gloucestershire aren’t a side to be dismissed lightly but much like in Hampshire’s T20 Blast quarter final big game experience is likely to come to the fore here and it is Hampshire who have that. They bat all the way down and have plenty of bowling options and that combination coupled with their experience leads me to take them here.
Back Hampshire to beat Gloucestershire for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Ladbrokes
