Gloucestershire skipper Gidman remains bullish over promotion hopes

Alex Gidman remains hopeful Gloucestershire can snatch the second promotion place in LV County Championship Division Two from four rivals.

Gloucestershire go into the match with champions Kent, which starts in Bristol today, with a 13-point deficit to make up on second-placed Essex, who have an away game with fellow promotion-challengers Derbyshire.

Northamptonshire, who host Leicestershire, and Glamorgan, who are away to Surrey, are also in with a shout of going up.

To gain promotion, sixth-placed Gloucestershire CCC will probably need to defeat Kent – and gain a large haul of bonus points – while hoping that none of their rivals are victorious.

Skipper Gidman said: "There are obviously a lot of teams in contention for the second spot and we must concentrate on our job.

"We need to beat the champions, which is tough enough as it is, and get plenty of bonus points.

"It's exciting to be involved and we'll do our best and see what happens."

Gloucestershire CCC will be without left-arm spinner Vikram Banerjee, who split the webbing in a hand while fielding in the drawn game with Glamorgan.

Seamers Ian Saxelby and Anthony Ireland have been added to a squad that is otherwise unchanged from the one that featured at Cardiff.

Kent will continue to be without opener Joe Denly, who is with England on Champions Trophy duty, and prolific South African batsman Martin van Jaarsveld, who has returned to his homeland for family reasons.

Van Jaarsveld has been the leading run-scorer in Division Two cricket this summer, with 1,475 runs at an average of 70.23.

Gidman became the first Gloucestershire CCC batsman to pass 1,000 runs this season when he reached that landmark at Cardiff on Saturday.

It looks as though he will be the only one to break the 1,000-barrier, unless Kadeer Ali ( 809 runs), James Franklin (800) or Hamish Marshall (757) enjoy a run-feast over the next four days.

Gloucestershire (from): Porterfield, Ali, Marshall, Gidman (capt), Taylor, Franklin, Adshead, Dawson, Lewis, Kirby, Saxelby, Ireland.