Gloucestershire's bowling attack is beginning to show signs of acute stress as the County Championship campaign approaches its climax.

Back-to-back defeats at the hands of Leicestershire and Middlesex have seen Gloucestershire CCC lose crucial ground on the LV County Championship Division Two front-runners and nothing short of victory over Surrey in their next match, starting in Bristol tomorrow, will suffice if they are to revive their flagging promotion prospects.

But their senior bowlers are feeling the strain and director of cricket John Bracewell, pictured, and captain Alex Gidman must await the outcome of a number of fitness tests before naming a squad.

Chief among the casualties is spinner Richard Dawson, whose participation has been plunged into doubt by a sore wrist, while pace spearheads Jon Lewis and Steve Kirby are struggling to shake off the effects of sore shins and a stiff back respectively.

Overseas all-rounder James Franklin has played his way through a back problem in recent weeks and Anthony Ireland is still to recover fully from illness.

Aches and pains are part and parcel of a bowler's lot at this stage of an English season, but Bracewell fears Gloucestershire's below-par performance with the bat this summer has placed increased pressure on the attack.

He said: "Our biggest problem has been our inability to post big first-innings totals and pick up our batting bonus points.

"Batters save games by occupying the crease for long periods of time and they have not been doing that consistently enough.

"In my opinion, that is now affecting our bowlers. Our bowling has been first division-class all summer, but our batting has not.

"Because of that, we've been exposed and the bowlers are beginning to feel the strain.

"Several of the guys are experiencing problems and some are having to play without being fully fit.

"Injuries are nothing out of the ordinary for bowlers at this time of year. We have three games left in the Championship and we have to try and patch them up the best we can and send them out there to do a job. We'll take a look at the guys before selecting a squad the day before the game."

Will Porterfield comes back into contention after scoring a big hundred for Ireland against Scotland last week.

Bracewell said: "Will occupied the crease for a long time and that's something a lot of our batters have been struggling to do.

"He's definitely played himself into contention."