{"id":534431,"date":"2026-04-16T17:02:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/534431\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T17:02:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:02:16","slug":"match-preview-gloucestershire-v-lancashire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/534431\/","title":{"rendered":"MATCH PREVIEW: Gloucestershire v Lancashire"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

MATCH PREVIEW: Gloucestershire v Lancashire<\/p>\n


\nLancashire are up and running in this season\u2019s Championship, and how!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gloucestershire v Lancashire\u00a0
Rothesay County Championship, Division Two\u00a0
Friday April 17 – Monday April 20, 2026, 11am
The Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol\u00a0<\/p>\n

What a performance that was from the Red Rose bowlers on day four to pull their game out of the fire against Derbyshire, who were chasing a total of only 138.<\/p>\n

Captain Fantastic Sir James Anderson starred with 4-18 as the Peakites – fancied by many to be in the promotion mix come September – were skittled for just 108 either side of lunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All the bowlers contributed significantly, while Marcus Harris should take immense credit for his 125 in the first innings and 66 in the second in his first appearance of the season.<\/p>\n

Lancashire have now drawn one and won one following their opening round dominance against Northamptonshire, who held on at the end nine wickets down.<\/p>\n

Harris now returns to his former county Gloucestershire this weekend. They have started the season with back-to-back innings defeats against Middlesex and Durham.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Opposition\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gloucestershire have had a nightmare start to the summer because of their aforementioned defeats to Middlesex and Durham.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Captained by Australian batter Cameron Bancroft and coached by Mark Alleyne, they finished sixth in Division Two last summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lancashire and Gloucestershire almost swapped seam bowlers over the winter. Ajeet Singh Dale has arrived at Emirates Old Trafford, while Will Williams has moved down to the West Country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alongside the departure of Singh Dale, Gloucestershire lost three more seamers over the winter in Zaman Akhter to Essex, Tom Price to Sussex and Josh Shaw to Somerset. They did, however, get pacer Craig Miles back from Warwickshire.<\/p>\n

Gloucestershire have also signed another Aussie in fast bowler Gabe Bell, who is with them for the first block of Championship matches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Previous meeting\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lancashire and Gloucestershire met twice in Division Two last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They drew at Emirates Old Trafford at the start of May, a high-scoring game which saw first-innings totals of 450 and 589-8 declared in favour of the visitors and scores of 167 and 253 from Marcus Harris and Ollie Price respectively.<\/p>\n

In the return fixture, at Cheltenham College in late July, Lancashire triumphed by nine wickets in a match Tom Hartley will never ever forget.<\/p>\n

Having elected to bat, the Red Rose racked up 557 all out, including 106 for Matty Hurst, 160 for Chris Green and 130 for Hartley. From 302-8, Green and Hartley shared 212 for the ninth wicket – a Lancashire record stand for that wicket in first-class cricket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Glos then responded with 381, including 6-116 for Hartley\u2019s left-arm spin. \u00a0One of his wickets was opener Ben Charlesworth stumped by Phil Salt for 160.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following-on, the hosts had to face Hartley with the new ball on a spin-friendly track, and they weren\u2019t up to the task as the England man claimed 5-99 to bowl them out for 285 just after tea on day four.<\/p>\n

That left Lancashire with a target of 110, which they achieved for the loss of one wicket in 21 overs.\u00a0Keaton Jennings posted an unbeaten 57 and Josh Bohannon 45 not out. They shared an unbroken 103.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What they said\u00a0<\/p>\n

Captain Sir James Anderson and head coach Steven Croft have been talking about squad rotation, especially within the fast-bowling department ahead of Lancashire\u2019s trip to face Gloucestershire at Bristol.<\/p>\n

New fast-bowling signing Ajeet Singh Dale and all-rounder George Balderson were left out of the win against Derbyshire, with Mitch Stanley and Paul Coughlin coming in.<\/p>\n

It showed the strength in depth that the Red Rose management have at their disposal.<\/p>\n

Anderson said: \u201cIt\u2019s a tricky one because we\u2019ve got probably six or seven bowlers pushing for four slots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re trying to just make sure everyone gets some game time, try and keep everyone fresh.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut also there’s an element of taking it week by week, seeing how people pull up from games and managing that and seeing how the conditions are at each ground that you go to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croft added: \u201cGeorge was rested, and that’s all it was really – sort of a rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have that luxury to rotate him out and bring someone of Paul Coughlin\u2019s quality in was brilliant.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoggers had a brilliant debut with bat, ball and in the field. He\u2019s the sort of cricketer everyone wants in their side. To have the luxury is brilliant for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, later down the road, those conversations will get harder and harder if we stay as a fit squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it’s happened to Balders and Ajeet as well. Just a rotation out. And, yes, obviously, there’s going to be some more headaches going into Gloucester.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How\u2019s Stat!\u00a0<\/p>\n

In posting 130 in the first innings and then taking 11-215 in the match at Cheltenham last July, Tom Hartley became only the sixth Lancashire player to score 100 runs or more and take 10 or more wickets in the same first-class match.<\/p>\n

RG Barlow has done it, Johnny Briggs three times, Len Hopwood, Jack Ikin, Mike Watkinson and, obviously, Hartley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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