RICHARD Dawson insists Gloucestershire are not ready to relinquish their hold on the Royal London One-Day Cup, despite a disappointing start in defence of the trophy.

Last season’s surprise winners take on Sussex at Cheltenham when the competition resumes on Sunday, having won only one of their first four South Group matches.

But since those games Gloucestershire have enjoyed an outstanding NatWest T20 Blast group campaign and head coach Dawson believes they will take huge confidence from that into the 50-over format.

He said: “We are not out of it by any means and if we can get on the sort of winning run we had in the T20 we still have every chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

“Having won the trophy last year, we remain determined to defend it. The problem in our first three group matches was that only one or two players made significant contributions.

“The key to our T20 success has been having six or seven on form in the same games. That’s what we need now in the Royal London Cup.

“It seems such a long time now since we beat Hampshire in our fourth group game. But that showed what we are capable of and, for all the disappointments of the previous matches, we are only two points off fourth place.

“Players who were off their game in the early 50-over games have really come good in the T20, which is certainly cause for optimism.”

Gloucestershire comfortably won their first one-day fixture at this year’s Cheltenham Festival when a sell-out 5,000 crowd saw them beat Essex by 30 runs in the NatWest Blast last Sunday.

Dawson is looking forward to another bumper attendance at the College Ground, but has a decision to make on who will keep wicket following news that Gareth Roderick will be out for six weeks after breaking a finger in the Essex game.

Chris Dent took over the gloves for the Specsavers County Championship match with Leicestershire this week, but there are the options of a loan signing or calling up one of the county’s young keepers, Patrick Grieshaber or James Bracey.

“We are looking at the possibility of a loan, but it isn’t easy to get players at this time of year and if we can’t we will look to replace Gareth from within,” said Dawson.

“Chris Dent was a keeper earlier in his career and volunteered for the Leicestershire game, while we have some talented young lads coming through, so there are options.”