Gloucestershire director of cricket John Bracewell looks ahead to the new season (From Gazette Series)

Gloucestershire director of cricket John Bracewell looks ahead to the new season

5:23pm Sunday 11th April 2010 in

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THORNBURY youth product Chris Dent is in contention to start for Gloucestershire in their County Championship opener against Northamptonshire on Thursday.

The 19-year-old batsman scored a century against Cardiff MCCU in a warm-up match last week and could make his four-day debut after a one-day appearance against Nottinghamshire at the end of last season.

Director of cricket John Bracewell has been impressed with Dent and seamer David Payne, who represented England at the under-19 World Cup in New Zealand over the winter.

“There’s no doubt that they’re pressing for a place now which is what we want,” said Bracewell.

“We’re a small squad and we deliberately made it that way which is going to put us under pressure with injuries but it’s certainly going to put everybody under pressure in terms of selection.”

New signing Jonathan Batty, 35, is expected to open the batting as well as keeping wicket and Bracewell believes he could make the difference in Gloucestershire’s promotion bid this season.

“We think that maturity will take a bit of pressure off the development of (Rob) Woodman and Dent and add some solidity to the top of the order.

“We need to score more runs at the top of the order instead of relying on the middle order to get us out of trouble.

“We need to set a foundation earlier on to maximise bonus points and give us the best opportunity of getting the job done.”

Full interview with Jonathan Batty and preview of the county cricket season in Thursday’s Gazette newspaper.