Northamptonshire Steelbacks travel to Cheltenham tomorrow to face Gloucestershire with qualification still on the line in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.
A third place spot, which is enough for an away quarter-final, can now be achieved if the Steelbacks are victorious against Gloucestershire as well as Lancashire and Kent both losing their respective fixtures with the net run rate remaining positive.
Gloucestershire currently sit bottom of Group A and are unable to qualify, having won just two of their seven games.
The last time Northamptonshire took part in the Cheltenham Festival was in 2023, also in the One-Day Cup, a match which Gloucestershire won by 23 runs but did include a century from Tom Taylor.
On Sunday, half centuries from Luke Procter and Nathan McSweeney saw Northamptonshire comprehensively defeated Somerset by seven wickets, and with 20 overs to spare in their chase. Rob Keogh also recorded career-best List A bowling figures of 4/35.
Match information:
Cheltenham College is the venue with the toss set to take place at 10:30am, and the first ball scheduled for 11am.
The innings break is scheduled for 2:30pm, but that is dependent on the outcome of the first innings. The match is scheduled to end at 6:30pm.
The game will be live streamed by the host county, but you can keep up to date with the live match updates by following our social media platforms.
Squad news:
It’s an unchanged 13-man squad from Sunday’s win against Somerset.
Steelbacks squad to face Gloucestershire:
Nathan McSweeney (c), George Bartlett, Yuzi Chahal, Liam Guthrie, Rob Keogh, Sam King, Dom Leech, Tiaan Louw, Lewis McManus (wk), Gus Miller, Luke Procter, Stuart van der Merwe, Raphy Weatherall
Hear the thoughts of Luke Procter after the win against Somerset.
Opponent preview:
Previewed by Richard Latham – ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Captain: Jack Taylor
2025 Position: Quarter-finals
2025 Most Runs: James Bracey (572)
2025 Most Wickets: Matt Taylor (14)
Why they can win the competition: Gloucestershire do not lose any players to The Hundred so, with the exception of overseas signings Liam Scott and D’Arcy Short, they will be able to field the players who got to the quarters in the Vitality T20 Blast this summer.
Player to watch: Tommy Boorman has developed through Gloucestershire’s age groups and, at 21, has now represented the club in all formats of the domestic game. His unbeaten 33 saw them to victory over Leicestershire in last season’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Young gun: Kamran Dhariwal smashed a 13-ball half-century in the recent Vitality T20 Blast group game against Worcestershire. The 21-year-old product of the South Asian Cricket Academy is studying medicine at Bristol University but looks to have a bright future as a cricketer.
Final thought: Gloucestershire reeled off six group wins in succession at the start of last summer’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup before losing the next two and their quarter-final. They like the format and are keen to build on their Vitality T20 Blast form that saw them reach the quarter-finals of that competition.