MATCH PREVIEW: Gloucestershire v Lancashire
After a fabulous end to the group stage, winning three away fixtures on the bounce, to seal third place in Group A and progression to the knockouts, Lancashire are on the road again for a quarter-final.
Gloucestershire v Lancashire
Metro Bank One Day Cup, Quarter-Final
Friday August 25, 2023, 11am
The Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol
We face a Gloucestershire side who finished second in Group B, with the winners going on to face Leicestershire at Grace Road in the semi-final on Tuesday. The Foxes were the winners of Group A and have directly qualified for the last four.
Lancashire were beaten finalists in last year’s One Day Cup. If they are to go one better and triumph this year, they will have had to win five successive away games added to a neutral venue final at Trent Bridge on September 16.
Lancashire ended the group with away victories against Surrey, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire, the latter coming on Tuesday at Welbeck Colliery by seven wickets chasing 186.
A ruthless bowling performance was followed by an excellent Keaton Jennings century.
Lancashire won four games added to a pair of No Results to progress with 10 points. Gloucestershire, meanwhile, won six of their eight games to finish with 12.
The other play-off tie will see Hampshire host Worcestershire at the Ageas Bowl on Sunday for the right to face Group B winners Warwickshire in the semi-final.
Opposition:
Lancashire were widely known across the counties as the Kings of One Day Cricket following success after success through the late eighties into the mid-nineties.
Well, Gloucestershire had a similar period of dominance in the late nineties and early 2000s. That was highlighted in 2000 when they won the One Day treble.
They won the Norwich Union National League that year as well as the NatWest Trophy and the Benson and Hedges Cup. Whisper it quietly, but they beat Lancashire in the semi-finals of the latter two competitions at Bristol that year.
The era of Jack Russell behind the stumps saw the Bristol win seven titles between 1999 and 2004.
Fast forward a few years and they were also Royal London Cup champions in 2015, the county’s last piece of major silverware. Ironically, that was the summer in which Lancashire won their last major trophy as well - the Vitality Blast.
Gloucestershire have benefitted from a lack of Hundred disruption, only losing two players in batter Miles Hammond and seamer David Payne. And Hammond was released back to the county to play in two group matches.
They have been captained throughout this competition by wicketkeeper-batter James Bracey, who posted a brilliant 224 not out in a big home win over Somerset when Gloucestershire racked up 454-3.
Pakistan fast bowler all-rounder Anwar Ali is with them as an overseas player, while his compatriot Zafar Gohar - the left-arm spinner - has also played in this competition. Ireland batter Harry Tector has as well.
Dutch seamer Paul van Meekeren is their competition leading wicket-taker with 15, while batter Ollie Price is their leading run-scorer with 514. His brother Tom is in the same side.
They are coached by former South Africa batter Dale Benkenstein, who spent a short time with Lancashire as a batting consultant during the 2021 summer.
Progression through to the knockout stages of this competition has come as a relief for the county, who are second bottom in Division Two of the Championship - winless in 11 games. They also failed to qualify for the Blast quarter-finals.
Opposing player to watch:
Ollie Price is one of the leading three batters in the ongoing One Day Cup, with his haul of 514 only bettered by Ed Barnard of Warwickshire (590) and Andy Umeed of Somerset (613).
That haul includes two hundreds and three half-centuries.
The 22-year-old from Oxford has scored four senior centuries for Gloucestershire, all of them coming this season. The other two were in the LV= Insurance County Championship.
Ollie’s older brother Tom, a seamer bowling all-rounder, also scored his maiden senior century in the Championship earlier this season.
Ollie has been batting at three in this competition and has produced a number of well-paced innings.
Previous meeting:
Lancashire beat Gloucestershire by six wickets at Bristol in the One Day Cup in July 2021. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a result which led to knockout qualification.
Danny Lamb was the star with 5-30 from nine overs as the hosts were bowled out for 171 in a game captained by Tom Bailey.
Gloucestershire, inserted, did very well to recover from 89-7 thanks to Matt Taylor’s lower order 51 not out, with Bailey 2-33 and left-arm spinner Jack Morley 2-22 also excellent from their respective 10-over spells.
Lancashire’s chase was then achieved with significant comfort - inside 44 overs - as a host of valuable contributions ensured there was never any danger. Keaton Jennings led the way with 47 opening the batting.
The Red Rose have actually won the last five List A matches played against Gloucestershire.
Since they last lost against the South West county - a Totesport League game at Emirates Old Trafford in 2005 - there have been eight matches, with the other three rained off.
What they said:
“We are really proud to be in the quarter-finals,” said Keaton Jennings.
And so the Lancashire squad should be after their rampant run-in!
It is no wonder confidence is sky-high ahead of their trip down the M6 and M5.
Jennings added: “The guys have had some really honest conversations in the dressing room, which has allowed people to learn quickly from mistakes earlier in the tournament.
“Gloucestershire are a good side, but we’ve now finished with three wins on the bounce in tough away games.
“We feel like we have some momentum going into the knockout stages.”
How’s Stat!
Tomorrow’s match will be Lancashire's 50th domestic quarter-final tie, including three of them against Gloucestershire. The Red Rose have won all three of those.
The first one was in 1976, by seven wickets in the Gillette Cup.
The second, in 1990, came by 241 runs in the NatWest Trophy - still Lancashire’s biggest winning margin in List A cricket.
The latter came in 1996, by five wickets in the Benson and Hedges Cup.