Taylor draws on lessons from Blast win for the title defence

JACK Taylor will draw on the lessons of last year’s T20 Blast success as he aims to lead Gloucestershire to a repeat triumph.

- Mark HALLIWELL

The county start their campaign against Kent at Bristol on Friday with those Edgbaston finals day hammerings of Sussex and Somerset fresh in the memory.

“It took a while to sink in,” the Gloucestershire skipper admitted. “We are probably still reflecting on it now.

“You dream about those days and lots of us have been here for a long time and to be able to experience it is something we are never going to forget.

“We know within our group that we have all bases covered and now we know what we can achieve.

“We were able to play in a lot of close games in the group stages and that set us up well for the knockouts.”

Taylor says one of the big keys to their success - particularly in the knockout stages - was playing the conditions and adjusting their game accordingly.

“That was something we highlighted,” he said. “T20 can be gung-ho and over in a flash but we really focussed on whether we bat or bowl first, getting that information, assessing the pitch and then judge accordingly.

“In the quarter-final and both games on final day we did that better than the opposition.

“There might be a target in our back but we are going into it as we did last year - as well prepared as ever and aiming to go out and play as well as we can.

“We understand that last year is now in the past, it’s a fresh slate, everyone is on zero points.

“We are going to have to improve, but it’s an exciting time and we all hope to be ready to go on Friday.