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Vitality Blast Preview: Gloucestershire v Somerset
THE MATCH
Somerset take on Gloucestershire at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol in the Vitality Blast tomorrow (June 21st).
Play is due to start at 6:30pm.
This match is sold out!
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
You can keep up to date with a live blog via our dedicated Match Centre and also on our X feed.
There will also be a live stream of the game provided by Gloucestershire CCC.
In addition to this, a report on the day’s play along with quotes will be posted on this website.
THE OPPOSITION
Captain: Jack Taylor
Overseas players: Beau Webster (Australia), Cameron Bancroft (Australia), Zafar Gohar (Pakistan)
Finals Day appearances: Three (2003, 2007, 2020)
Titles: None
2023 finish: Seventh (South Group)
2023 leading run-scorer: Ben Charlesworth (299)
2023 leading wicket-taker: Tom Smith (17)
Key winter moves: Aussie seamer Beau Webster has been recruited to boost the bowling attack and will hope to use his 6ft 7ins frame to make scoring difficult against him, while fellow countryman Cameron Bancroft is back for a second spell in the batting ranks and has been playing regularly in the Championship.
The big question: Can Gloucestershire translate their improvement in red ball cricket under new head coach Mark Alleyne this season, winning a first Championship game since 2022 and running up their highest ever first-class score, to the shortest format of the game?
Wildcard watch: David Payne claimed 15 Blast wickets last summer, having not played any red ball cricket leading up to the tournament because of injury. The experienced left-arm seamer has again missed the first half of the Championship season to be fit and fresh for T20 and will be keen to make an impact.
Final thought: Mark Alleyne proved himself a shrewd leader in one-day cricket as captain during Gloucestershire’s glory years of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Now he has the opportunity to influence the side tactically from within the dressing room as a head coach with a shrewd cricketing brain for the shorter formats of the game.
TEAM NEWS
Craig Overton and Jake Ball are being rested for this fixture.
Somerset have named the following squad of 14 for this fixture: Lewis Gregory, Will Smeed, Tom Banton, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Abell, Tom Lammonby, Sean Dickson, Ben Green, Kasey Aldridge, Roelof van der Merwe, Josh Davey, Riley Meredith, Jack Leach and Sonny Baker
VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Ahead of the match, Head Coach, Jason Kerr said: “We’ve played some superb cricket so far in this competition and hopefully that will continue on Friday. Derby fixtures can be pretty raucous and we’re hoping that there will be a good crowd and plenty of sunshine and that we can put on a show.
“Although it’s a derby, we’ll approach it like any other game and we will give the opposition the respect that they deserve. As always, the emphasis will be on how we want to play. Confidence is incredibly high within the group and we need to go out there on Friday and continue to execute our skills.
“Gloucestershire are a tight unit and a highly skilled white-ball side, but we will be doing everything we can to get the two points.
“The schedule is manic at the moment and we go straight into Championship cricket on Sunday. Therefore, the sensible thing for both the team and certain individuals is to rest them so that they have the opportunity to be at their best for the four-day game at Trent Bridge. It’s about strategically making sure that we get the balance right to make sure that we remain competitive in all competitions.”
CLASSIC MATCH
We go back to 2022 for our classic T20 match between the two sides.
It was a rain effected encounter which saw Somerset chasing a revised target of 112 from 10 overs.
After slipping to 55 for seven after six overs, Roelof van der Merwe smashed his way to 48 not out from just 15 balls as Somerset claimed a dramatic victory!
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
You can find out everything that you need to know about attending the game via the Official Gloucestershire Website.
TRADE NATION STAT
- Tom Banton is batting differently to usual. In the 2024 Blast 55% of his runs have come on the off side, which stands in stark contrast to his past performances in the competition. This is the first season since 2018 (where Banton played only twice in the Blast) that he has scored predominantly on the off side, after the 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 comps saw him score 70%, 72%, 59% and 51% of his runs on the leg side respectively.
- Riley Meredith is on course for his best ever T20 tournament performance. His current Blast 2024 average (10.90) is lower than any other tournament he has played in, and he has never bowled a higher percentage of dots (51.6%) or been hit for a lower percentage of boundaries (11.66%)
NEXT MATCH
Our next match is in the Vitality County Championship when we take on Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
The match begins on Sunday June 23rd.
Tickets for this match are still available.
