HEAD coach Richard Dawson says having two fewer matches in Division Two of the County Championship accentuates the need for a good performance in Gloucestershire’s first home match of the season against Leicestershire, starting on Good Friday.

The three day defeat by Kent in the opening round of fixtures was a jolt in a division which Dawson rates as one of the strongest he’s seen in recent years with Nottinghamshire, Sussex, Worcestershire and Durham – despite their points deduction – all fancied to be in the promotion picture at the end of the season.

“There is no time to twiddle your thumbs in a 14 game season” he said. “We don’t have 16 matches any more, there is an opportunity here to respond quickly and that’s what we must do, especially if Leicestershire build any pressure when we’re batting.

"We didn’t handle that very well at Canterbury, and we’ve got to be able to soak it up when it comes and hopefully things get easier the more we get used to the wicket.”

The squad of 12 to face Leicestershire again does not include Gareth Roderick, so Phil Mustard will continue to captain the team.

“Gareth has been ill a couple of times in pre-season and we need him to get his energy back and have some time in the middle both batting and fielding” Dawson added. “He’s been training and the second XI have a three day game against Yorkshire at Headingley starting on Tuesday and the plan is he’ll play in that. ”

Leicestershire’s start to the summer been short on incident. A 16 point penalty for indiscipline on the eve of the season was followed by a 10 wicket defeat by Nottinghamshire, and earlier this week opening batsman Angus Robson also left the club by mutual consent.

“We’ve got to be willing to play for four days and not get caught up in any change in tempo in the game” Dawson said.

“At Canterbury we held our own with the ball and although we were a bit rusty in Kent’s first innings, in the second innings we bowled and fielded really well on a pitch that did seam around a bit, but not extravagantly. They’ll want to bounce back as much as we do and it’s about who handles that challenge best.”

Gloucestershire squad: Dent, Bancroft, Tavare, van Buuren, Hankins, Mustard (c), J Taylor, Payne, Miles, Norwell, Liddle, Currill.