After the disappointment of missing out on the knockout stages of the Royal London One Day Cup, there is some good news for Gloucestershire supporters.

That’s because Australian batting star Michael Klinger is fit, firing and ready to light up the county’s T20 Blast campaign.

The 37-year-old opening batsman has reduced the amount of cricket he plays these days but he is contracted to play T20 for Gloucestershire this season and next and chief executive Will Brown is delighted.

“He flies into England at the end of June,” said Brown. “He’s a fantastic cricketer and he’s a great bloke.”

Klinger, who has been playing for Gloucestershire since 2013, was captain of the side when they won the One Day Cup in 2015.

Gloucestershire’s T20 campaign gets under way against fierce rivals Somerset in Taunton on Friday 6th July and, as with every other team in the competition, the aim is a place at finals day at Edgbaston on Saturday 15th September.

Klinger’s compatriot, pace bowler Andrew Tye, won’t be available at the start of campaign however.

The white ball specialist, who is in the Australia squad for the one-day series and T20 international against England this month, will be on international duty until early July after Australia agreed to play in a one-day series in Zimbabwe – a tournament that also involves Pakistan.

“Andrew Tye is coming a bit later,” said Brown. “He’s had a cracking IPL and should be with us by the third game.”

That third game is at home to Kent – a floodlit fixture at Bristol – on Wednesday 11th July.

Gloucestershire’s second T20 fixture is against Middlesex at Uxbridge on 8th July and they will play 14 group games in total – two at the Cheltenham Festival – before the first of the quarter-finals on Thursday 23rd August.