GAMES with Gloucestershire always have a local edge to them.

That edge could be even stronger this Wednesday with Gloucestershire arriving at New Road as the early season pace-makers in Division Two.

Is this the Jonty Rhodes effect or has John Bracewell's line-up finally started to gel in four-day cricket? What is clear is that, after a dismal showing in their very first innings against Somerset, they have put big runs on the board and given their bowlers time to win games.

Jonty Rhodes is an infectious, audacious cricketer. In style and size he fits neatly into that compact set of right handers which makes up the Gloucestershire middle order.

Like that other inspirational South African son of Bristol, Mike Procter, he lifts people by his presence as much as his abilities.

The effect certainly seems to be rubbing off on Tim Hancock who has, of course, been freed to bat in the middle order by Philip Weston's move down the M5.

Here is another reason for this game having added bite. The game's history is littered with tales of the rejected returning to haunt those who let them go. David Byas guiding Lancashire to victory over Yorkshire at Headingley last year perhaps was the most recent.

Weston's move could be seen as a positive example of the hard-headed, modern era. A good player whose limited opportunities have stalled his career moves to grab more opportunities rather than sitting on a comfortable contract. Competition has driven him out, but it is that competition which produces the pressurised situations out of which quality is forged.

This is the argument behind the inclusion of two overseas players in county sides this year. Competition is increased and only the best rise to the top.

The competition is of course further increased by the availability of players who qualify by different means such as Weston's opening partner, the former New Zealand batsman Craig Spearman.

Gloucestershire's other openers, Mike Smith and Jon-athan Lewis, are a good pair of early English seamers.

This might make them sound like something from the Antiques Road Show and if so they would be valuable.

Swinging the ball, one left-handed, one right from a full length makes them a potent combination and Gloucestershire's enduring success might well depend upon how long they stay fit.

Worcestershire's bowlers, on the other hand, have learned much of their cricket on harder, southern hemisphere pitches. The adjustment from a hard pitch, hit the deck length is not always easy to make.

Kent follow Gloucester for Sunday's National League game and have neither of their captains from last year.

Matthew Fleming has retired and David Fulton, tipped by Steve Waugh as a possible England captain after two fantastic seasons, is a sidelined with his awful, pre-season eye injury. Kent have just one overseas with Greg Blewett deputizing for Andrew Symonds till his return from the Caribbean.

They also have Alamgir Sheriyar, but I doubt whether he will have the same opportunities to impress his former employers as the week's other returning left hander!