DAVID Payne looks set to return to Gloucestershire’s team for the Specsavers County Championship match against Glamorgan at Cardiff, starting today.

And there will be a first appearance of the season in the competition for Benny Howell now that Cameron Bancroft has returned to Australia to prepare for their domestic season.

Payne underwent hernia surgery earlier this season and has missed the last three Championship games after suffering a reaction.

He is likely to resume his new ball partnership with Liam Norwell, who goes into the Glamorgan game just three short of his best ever tally of 61 wickets in a Championship season.

Howell has become more of a one-day specialist in recent years, particularly with his crafty medium-pace bowling.

But he hit a century in a second XI game against Somerset last week and has been selected as a batting all-rounder.

Bancroft’s departure following his double-hundred against Kent last week and Gareth Roderick’s absence with a broken finger have created vacancies in the batting line-up.

Skipper Phil Mustard could move up the order to open with Chris Dent, with youngsters James Bracey and George Hankins joining Howell in the top five.

Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson has named a squad of 12 and will assess conditions before deciding whether to play left-arm spinner Tom Smith at the expense of one of the seamers.

Bracey seems likely to keep wicket in place of Roderick, although Mustard offers a more experienced option.

Dawson said: “We lost two batsmen from our top order so the last two games are going to be a challenge. The players must adapt to the situation and work hard to put runs on the board.”

Bracey took over the gloves when Roderick was injured in the Kent match and Dawson would prefer to have Mustard direction operations from the outfield.

The head coach added: “We backed up our win at Leicester by playing another four days of hard cricket against Kent.

“If it is a fresh wicket at Cardiff it can seam around a bit and if it is a used wicket it can turn. We have to be disciplined again in how we perform.”

Gloucestershire (from) P.Mustard (capt), C.Dent, J.Bracey, B.Howell, G.Hankins, J.Taylor, K.Noema-Barnett, J.Shaw, M.Taylor, L.Norwell, D.Payne, T.Smith.