Michael Klinger looking for strong finish to Blast after emotional farewell in last home appearance

The skipper goes into the quarter-final match averaging 88 from his past four innings in the South Group and determined to take a step nearer a second trophy

Michael Klinger's recent run of good form suggests he can lead Gloucestershire to Vitality Blast Finals Day with victory over Derbyshire Falcons at Bristol on Saturday night.

The skipper goes into the quarter-final match averaging 88 from his past four innings in the South Group and determined to take a step nearer a second trophy to mark his outstanding seven years with the club.

Having led Gloucestershire to success in the 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup, Klinger has overcome a poor run of form at the start of this season's Blast with successive scores of 40, 74, 102 not out and 48.

Now, having bid some emotional farewells in what might have been his last home appearance in the recent group victory over Somerset, the 39-year-old Aussie is relishing the prospect of a bonus final game at the County Ground.

"Our supporters have been brilliant this season and it's a real buzz to play in front of them," he said.

"No one can say we haven't earned our home quarter-final because our last three group games were against teams chasing a top-four finish."

^{Michael Klinger was inspirational as Gloucestershire finished second in the South Division}

Gloucestershire won all three, against arch-rivals Somerset, Kent Spitfires and Sussex Sharks, having lost only one of their previous five games, to claim a surprise second place in the South Group.

"We couldn't afford to take our foot off the pedal for a moment and that is still the case as our season reaches an exciting climax," said Klinger.

"Even during my poor run of scores, I was convinced I still had some big ones left in me. Hopefully, I can now finish the Blast really strongly."

Gloucestershire's success in reaching the quarter-finals is all the more praiseworthy because they lost key all-rounder and most economical bowler Benny Howell to a hamstring injury with five group matches remaining.

It has been a real team effort. Klinger is leading run-maker on 356, while David Payne has established himself as leading wicket-taker with 16.

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Debyshire's T20 coach Dominic Cork described his team as underdogs for the quarter-final this week, but the Falcons boast batsmen and bowlers, who can damage any opposition.

Billy Godleman and Wayne Madsen have both reached 400 runs in the group games, while experienced West Indies seamer Ravi Rampaul is joint top of the competition's bowling list with 21 wickets.

All three players made significant contributions to Derbyshire's most recent Blast game against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford, which the Falcons won by 11 runs.

It was their third successive group win and Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson will not be underestimating them in any way.

"We will need to be right on our game to reach Finals Day," he said. "There is sure to be another fantastic atmosphere at our ground and hopefully we can reward our supporters with a good performance."

Courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network