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Home talent will lead the way

Mark Alleyne is preparing to attack this season's Twenty20 Cup competition with home-grown players.

Mark Alleyne is preparing to attack this season's Twenty20 Cup competition with tried and trusted home-grown players. Gloucestershire head for New Road and a group qualifying game against neighbours Worcestershire on Friday without overseas signings Shabbir Ahmed and Shoaib Malik, who are on Asia Cup duty with Pakistan.

Although the county have announced their intention to recruit New Zealand seam bowler James Franklin as a short-term replacement, he is not available until the end of the current NatWest one-day international series on July 10.

Gloucestershire are also close to signing an overseas batsman, but again, the player is not expected to be available for the Twenty20 Cup group games. Head coach Alleyne said: "All of my planning has been made with the assumption that no overseas players will be available until the second half of July. I'm preparing to go into the Twenty20 games with home-grown guys, the players who have helped us win six one-day titles in five years."

He confirmed: "We are looking for a batter to replace Shoaib Malik and we are talking to two or three people. But nothing has been sorted out yet. As for James Franklin, he is playing for New Zealand in the one-day internationals and will not be available to us until July 11 at the earliest."

Gloucestershire reached the inaugural Twenty20 Cup finals day last season, eventually losing to Surrey in the last four at Trent Bridge. "We have guys here who have proved they have the skills to play this game," said Alleyne. "Losing Shabbir and Shoaib may be untimely, but we'll still be organised and strong."

While admitting the Glo'sters will be forced to alter their tactical approach given the departure of Ian Harvey, Alleyne stressed the "basics" would remain the same. He explained: "The first six overs of both innings are key in this competition. You have to make sure you have the right men at the top of the order and the right type of bowlers to take the new ball." While big-hitting Craig Spearman and Harvey made a huge impact with the bat last summer, Gloucestershire's success was chiefly attributable to their legion of slower bowlers.

Alleyne said: "I've always been a big believer in slow bowling in these games and that has not changed. Mike Smith, James Averis and I can all mix it up, while Martyn Ball is a past master at restricting scoring. And we also have Ian Fisher, who didn't feature in these games last year. He could help us develop a new tactic and keep ourselves a step ahead of the opposition."

The head coach sounded a cautionary message to the batsmen, urging them not to be panicked by the need to score quickly.

"There is always pressure to score runs quickly, but those sides who have wickets in hand towards the end of their innings are the ones who normally win through. Some of our guys found it hard when early wickets went down last season and it's something we'll be discussing. Believe it or not, 20 overs offers plenty of time to post a decent total, providing you adopt a calm approach!"

Source - thisisbristol.com

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