Derbyshire v Gloucestershire County Championship preview

Dave Houghton has named a 12-man squad as Derbyshire return to four-day cricket at the Pattonair County Ground tomorrow.

They play a Gloucestershire side currently in third place in the division, a position that we are chasing ourselves, along with most of the rest of the division. With the exception of Leicestershire, any side that strings together a late run could get into those places, with Lancashire looking certain winners and Glamorgan currently (just) in second place.

A few sides are strengthening for a final push. Tomorrow's visitors have signed Josh Shaw on a three-year deal and have taken him on loan from Yorkshire, while they have also signed Shannon Gabriel from the West Indies for the season's last three games. Meanwhile Glamorgan have signed Samit Patel on loan from Nottinghamshire for the rest of the season.

In Ryan Higgins they picked up a fantastic all round signing from Middlesex and he is high in the batting and bowling averages this year. Chris Dent continues to score a lot of runs too, while David Payne, free from injury issues, like Higgins has over thirty wickets this summer.

There is no news on their squad as yet, but it will be a tough game. If we lose it, promotion prospects will be slim, I think, as the gap would then be 30-40 points and we would need to play out of our skins to pull that back.

The Derbyshire squad sees a return for Tom Lace, Tony Palladino and Harvey Hosein, who take their places in this squad:

Billy Godleman
Luis Reece
Wayne Madsen
Tom Lace
Leus du Plooy
Alex Hughes
Matt Critchley
Fynn Hudson-Prentice
Harvey Hosein
Logan van Beek
Tony Palladino
Ravi Rampaul

My guess is that Alex Hughes may miss out, based purely on four-day form prior to the break. Hudson-Prentice has come into the side and done well, while most of the rest appear to pick themselves.

I will be hoping for a stream and will see most of the action tomorrow, which seems set to benefit from a good forecast. So is the rest of the match, so with both teams needing a win, it appears set for an enthralling four days of cricket.

Fingers crossed we come out on the right side of it, but much will depend on which side gets out of T20 mode the best.

More from me tomorrow.