SUNDAY 26th APRIL
Surrey (h)
Bristol, FPT, 10:45
By Dom Mather
Gloucestershire meet Surrey tomorrow in their second Friends Provident Trophy match of the season and are hoping for consecutive wins after beating Sussex last week by seven wickets.
James Franklin looks like a shrewd signing, after taking seven wickets whilst adjusting to English conditions he is quickly becoming a key player for the Shire, however after a hamstring twinge he is a doubt and captain Alex Gidman says he will not be sure about the Kiwi until Sunday morning.
Craig Spearman is also in a race against the clock; the former New Zealand Batsman who made 69 runs without falling last Sunday has damaged his thigh and may be out until the match versus Northamptonshire.
Gloucestershire are hoping to make a mends after the last time these teams met in 2007 where Glos lost by 257 runs after Surrey had made a world record 496 in their 50 overs.
One of the hot prospects who is looking to make that happen is left-arm orthodox bowler Vikram Banerjee who took two wickets in consecutive balls at the end of his spell last week; Banerjee had not been in the One Day plans before this season and is now showing former captain Jon Lewis his selection mistake.
After his international duty, during which he scored a century, Will Porterfield returns to the Gloucestershire squad.
Gloucestershire (from): Kadeer Ali, Marshall, Gidman (capt), Spearman, Porterfield, Hodnett, Taylor, Brown, Adshead (wkt), Banerjee, Saxelby, Lewis, Kirby, Franklin.
"...and is now showing former captain Jon Lewis his selection mistake."
ReplyDeleteI don't see how it's a 'mistake'. Banerjee did nothing last season to deserve a starting place. He had a good 2007, but when given the chance last year in the LVCC he didn't exactly shine: 6 matches, 7 wickets (cricinfo), hardly justification to pick him for one-dayers ..especially when Dawson (who could bat as well) was available.
This season is different. To his credit he went away over the winter and worked at his game and is seeing rewards, and only now has he earned his chance to play in the side.
Fair enough; I was picking up on Jon Lewis saying in his column that he had admitted his mistake to Banerjee. There are one-day specialists, and perhaps Banerjee is one of them.
ReplyDeleteYeh, sorry my post was unnecessarily blunt ..thought you were having a cheeky pop at Lewie is all!
ReplyDeleteI hope Banerjee turns out to be more than just a one-day specialist though ..would be great if we could tie down a quality spinner for the next decade!
..and how do you post with your name? ..I'm fed up of being 'Anonymous'...
I think it gives you the option of posting with a name. If you select "name/URL" i think you can type a name in.
ReplyDeleteI also hope Banerjee can develop his four-day game. For a club who's always produced fine spinners, could Banerjee be the next?!
Appears Banerjee knows what he's doing in any game on current showing! :)
ReplyDelete