David Payne could make his first appearance of the season when Gloucestershire complete their Royal London One-Day Cup South Group campaign against Middlesex at Bristol tomorrow (2pm start).

The left-arm seamer is close to recovery from the ankle surgery, which has forced him to miss all the Specsavers County Championship and 50-over games so far.

Head coach Richard Dawson said: “David is nearly there, but we don’t want to take any chances with him and will assess his fitness further ahead of the Middlesex game.”

With Liam Norwell troubled by a hamstring problem and Dan Worrall having returned to Australia with a fractured foot, Gloucestershire have been without three front-line seamers for the majority of their Royal London Cup fixtures.

The weather has also hit their hopes of reaching the knock-out stage, with two home matches abandoned without a ball bowled and the game against Somerset at Taunton washed out with Dawson’s men in a winning position.

He also concedes that none of his batsmen have made a really big score and will challenge them to produce a first century in the competition this season against Middlesex.

Dawson has seen his players score 11 half-centuries in the group matches without anyone going on to three figures.

“We have batted well in general, but there have been a lot of opportunities to make hundreds and we haven’t taken any of them,” he said. "That's something we want to put right against Middlesex."

With both sides needing other results to go in their favour to reach the play-off stage, the head coach is concentrating on finishing the South Group with a strong performance.

There could be team changes following the seven-wicket defeat by Kent at Beckenham, with Graeme van Buuren and Miles Hammond, as well as Payne, pressing for places.

Dawson was unhappy with the bowling against Kent. “From the first over we never put any pressure on their batsmen,” he said.

“We may need to adjust tactically and take pace off the ball for a greater part of the game.”

Coincidentally, Middlesex’s hopes of qualifying from the South Group have been hit by a similar batting problem to Gloucestershire’s. Three of their four defeats to date have been when batting first and falling short of a par score.

Those games produced 22 individual scores in double figures, but nothing higher than Paul Stirling’s 67 against Surrey at Lord’s.

Gloucestershire are one of three teams on seven points going into the final round of group matches, just one behind third-placed Essex.

But Dawson’s men have the worst net run-rate and will need to improve it, as well as winning, to achieve a top three finish.