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| The Tavern getting to know the locals |
After the previous day's wash-out against Hampshire Glos travelled along the south coast to beautiful Arundel to take on flashy Sussex-by-the-sea.
As 6,000 people discovered that one entrance to a cricket ground isn't the greatest idea, the Jessop Tavern took the time to have a catch-up with Sid the Shark and discuss the game ahead. The pace of Tymal Mills versus the superhuman run scoring of Michael Klinger? Sid gave a giant thumbs up to the idea that Klinger would fancy Mills' extra pace.
Sussex won the toss and soon had the big breakthrough. Ajmal Shazad, came back from the unknown, to trap Maxy Klinger LBW in only the second over. It was Sussex's only success for the next 13 overs as O'Mish and Ian Cockbain put together a magnificent 120 partnership for the second wicket. It was magnificent in lots of ways, primarily for the fact that the pitch appeared to not be the easiest to get started on, and took every batsman a little while to get the boundaries flowing.
O'Mish was imperious, and his 90 from 55 balls was an exhibition in clean, clinical T20 hitting. Not obviously destructive, but working the ball intelligently and knowing which balls were his to hit. Cockbain intelligently played second fiddle. Giving O'Mish as much strike as possible.
After both were out the Glos innings then stuttered as the boundaries dried up as the new men found it harder to get going. That is until Benny the batsman strode to the wicket. At this point the Shire were in danger of posting a total that would fall short of the 180-190 that looked necessary. Benny is not a man who worries too much about getting his eye in and he launched several towering sixes to make sure that Glos posted a competitive total.
The bowling unit were soon under the cosh as Luke Wright helped himself to some typically lusty leg side blows. Wright looked a million dollars for his 71 from 47 balls, and as wickets continued falling at the other end he very quickly became the key to victory for Sussex. Fortunately Wright has made a career of looking a million dollars in only very short patches and on 71 he again swung agriculturally and found Andrew Tye at cow-corner off Benny the bowler. After Wright departed Sussex never really looked like pulling off the chase.
So Glos now have 3 victories in a row and are joint top of the South group for the T20 Blast (technically second on net average) The most pleasing thing is that they are now fully revived from their one day cup-induced slump. The team looks well balanced. Graeme Van Buuren was brought in to add additional spin options. Matt Taylor and David Payne have become very intelligent one day bowlers. Andrew Tye looks a tidy overseas signing. Benny and Gournet-Burger have brought variety. All of the bowlers look like they know exactly what their role is in the side and these roles are very clearly matching up with their skill-sets. A lot of credit goes to the coaching staff.
There is still a lot of cricket left in this season, but Glos are well placed now to be competitive for the rest of the year.
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