Ian Cockbain: Gloucestershire batter motivated by Australian success

Cockbain hit an unbeaten 71 in Adelaide's win over Sydney in the Big Bash League

Gloucestershire batter Ian Cockbain has a new-found motivation for franchise cricket after a successful first stint in Australia's Big Bash League.

Cockbain, 35, was called up to the Adelaide Strikers in January before enjoying a spell in the Pakistan Super League the following month.

He scored 239 runs in six innings for the Strikers, including an unbeaten 71 to secure the team a play-off spot.

It was the first time Cockbain had played in an overseas T20 league.

"To finally have a taster of going and playing in those franchise tournaments, it's definitely given me a bit more motivation to keep doing well and keep doing what I've been doing over the last few years," he told BBC Radio Bristol.

The Liverpudlian has been at Gloucestershire since 2010 and holds the record for the most T20 runs scored and most T20 appearances for the club.

He has regularly spent his winters playing club cricket in Australia, where his wife is from, and was in Adelaide on holiday when the surprise call-up from the Strikers came in.

Cockbain made 35 not out on his debut against the Scorchers and scored 65 off 38 balls in the win over Sydney Thunder.

"I've been trying get the opportunity now for a number of years given my performances in the Vitality Blast here," Cockbain said.

"To finally get the chance, I was under no illusions that I was just going to go about my game and pretty much do what I do for Gloucester over there. Things worked out pretty nicely and I managed to get a few runs and we went on a bit of a run at the end of the tournament."

After leaving Australia, Cockbain then made his debut in the Pakistan Super League for the Karachi Kings, playing in three matches.

"The cricket was actually very, very strong. Every team had a bowler who was bowling over 90 miles an hour, the batters were all super aggressive, conditions were very different to what we get here," Cockbain said.

"In terms of the fans and stuff, it was so loud given it was only 50% capacity for most of the tournament. When they cranked it up to full capacity I've never experienced anything like that really."

Gloucestershire begin their County Championship campaign against Northamptonshire on 7 April, with the tournament returning to a two-division format in 2022. Gloucestershire are among the 10 clubs competing in Division One.

This year's T20 Vitality Blast opens for the club with a match away at Middlesex on 26 May.

"On our day we can beat anybody in the country, we've got that belief, it's just about us becoming more consistent now and doing it day-in, day-out," Cockbain said.

"We let ourselves down every now and again with a bad session here or a bad session there, but if we can get rid of those and become a lot more consistent we've got the talent to go on and win the championship."