Glos fail to seize the initiative

Day 1: Glos 275 v Derbyshire 24 - 0.

Having lost the toss in bowler friendly conditions Glos would probably have taken 275 from their first innings before play began yesterday.

However, having reached lunch on 104 for 2 and having done the hard work they will now been disappointed that no batsman managed to go on and produce a match defining score. Several of them had chances. Chris Dent swashbuckled a run a ball 22, Chris Tavare looked secure for 48 and Hamish O'Mish ground away for his 41. However, it will be the in-form Gareth Roderick who will be most frustrated. Three successive fifties in three county championship innings this season is an excellent return from your keeper, but batting at 3 Roderick will know that he now needs to start converting these scores into the dreaded Graham Gooch coined 'Daddy Hundred's'. Having reached 76, Roderick tamely gave his wicket away to a weak pull to midwicket and the innings never recovered.

Yet again Gloucestershires tail failed to provide any support. The last 6 wickets contributed only 48 runs. This follows on from the 0 for 4 effort that the tail managed in the first innings against Northants and will be a major cause of concern moving forward. James Fuller is an entertaining dasher, but he isn't a number 8 and Miles, Norwell and Taylor are three genuine number 11s (all be it Miles might have some potential) It is hard to know exactly how this needs to be addressed. Will Gidman would be the obvious answer.

Hopefully the pitch will continue to aid the seamers today and Glos can bowl themselves back into the contest. Given that the bowlers now need to perform, it was curious to see the Shire's best bowler, Craig Miles, not given the new ball and 3 overs late last night to try and strike an early blow in Derbyshire's innings.