Gloucestershire lose Dan Worrall to injury again

A new overseas player will be pursued after a back injury picked up during the One-Day Cup curtailed his 2019 campaign

Gloucestershire have lost overseas signing Dan Worrall to injury for the second successive season.

The 27-year-old seam bowler missed the last six games of the Royal London One-Day Cup campaign, having injured his back bowling in the second group match against Middlesex.

Gloucestershire were hoping he would recover in time for the return to Specsavers County Championship action against Glamorgan at Newport on Tuesday, but the damage has now been diagnosed as a stress fracture.

Worrall will miss the rest of Gloucestershire's season and the club will seek an alternative overseas recruit. Last summer the Australian returned home because of a foot injury after playing in only four Championship fixtures.

Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson said: “Dan has been very unlucky. He had been under treatment for a hamstring problem when he returned to us in April, but the back injury is new and unrelated.”

Even without Worrall, Dawson is confident Gloucestershire can retain momentum when playing only their second Championship game of the season against Glamorgan.

Although the team narrowly failed to reach the knock-out stage of the Royal London Cup, they ended the group campaign with encouraging away wins over Sussex and Essex.

In all, Gloucestershire won five of their eight group games, only missing out on a quarter-final place to arch-rivals Somerset on run rate, leaving Dawson in positive mood for the resumption of four-day cricket.

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“We played some very good cricket in the Royal London Cup and I like think the players learned a lot,” he said.

“We beat some good sides, with international players, including teams in the First Division of the Championship.

“Players like Miles Hammond and James Bracey have come into the white-ball side and performed. Overall, we did well with a small group.

“Most pleasing was the way we improved in the last two games. In those matches, it looked as though the players had taken certain things on board, which made a difference.”

Gloucestershire began their Championship campaign by taking 11 points from a draw with Derbyshire at Bristol.

With three promotion places, rather than two, up for grabs this summer, Dawson acknowledges that it could be a big season for the club.

“We won’t get ahead of ourselves, but it would be good to make a decent start and establish a high early position in the table,” he said.

“The Derbyshire match was a war of attrition and we may face more of the same against Glamorgan.

“I know very little about conditions at Newport Cricket Club and we will finalise a team after assessing the pitch.”

The match at Spytty Park is the first Championship fixture to be hosted by Newport CC for 54 years.

Courtesy of the ECB reporters network

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