Payne and Liddle last wicket stand allows Glos to claim heartwarming draw

Glos 303 (Tavare 61, Dent 59) and 320 (Dent 101, Tavare 55) drew with Durham 419 (Miles 5 for 99) and 85 for 4 (Payne 2 for 13)

Gloucestershire continued to bounce back from their opening round hammering against Kent with a performance of fight and character against one of the division's heavily-fancied teams.But for financial ineptitude Durham would still be firmly rooted in Division 1, and whilst their batting may have been shorn of its Division 1 quality over the winter, their bowling attack very much still has a lovely top tier sheen.

Against this team Glos made 300 plus in both innings and bowled well enough to keep a lid on a team that contains two test quality openers and a still feisty Paul Collingwood. If we are to be critical then Glos should probably have capitalised more on their first innings. Various players got in, made nice fifties and then gave their wickets away to part time bowlers Collingwood and Keaton Jennings. The bowlers then pulled Glos out of a 335 for 5 sized hole and managed to end up restricting Durham to 419 and a lead of just over a 100.

Second time around Cameron Bancroft again continued to struggle, but fellow opener Chris Dent took up the slack and finally converted one of his early season fifties into a ton, all be it being dropped on 95 on his way there. This was Dent's 12th career hundred, to go alongside his 38 fifties, a ratio no doubt he would like to improve upon. Dent and Tavare again anchored the innings with calm heads but a new ball burst from Durham just after lunch on the last day suddenly saw the game slipping out of the Shire's reach. 202 for 4 and then 253 for 5 suddenly became 275 for 9, a lead of just 159 and with 50 overs left to play.

Cometh the hour, cometh Chris Liddle as Glos fans finally got a taste of why the 33 year old journeyman was in the team. The two of them put on 45 for the last wicket, and more importantly took out over an hour from the game and eventually Durham were left chasing 205 for victory in 31 overs.

After removing his pads David Payne strode back out to the middle and proceeded to take two quick wickets that helped reduce Durham to 15 for 3. Durham eventually called off the chase having reached 84 for 4 and with only 8 wickets remaining. In the modern game defending 205 in 31 overs can be seen as a fairly decent performance.

Whilst this far from a flawless performance it was definitely a match of grit and determination from the Shire. Durham will certainly fancy their chances of an immediate return to the top table of county cricket and facing an attack of Chris Rushworth, Mark Wood and Graham Onions is a challenge that Chris Dent and Will Tavare in particular seemed to relish.

However, some seerious question marks must be now hanging over Cameron Bancroft at the top of the order. The Australian now has 53 runs in his first 3 matches. Not exactly a Klinger-esque return and this coupled with his struggles last year must raise concerns. Whether captain Roderick's return would allow him to bed in down the order might be something to keep an eye on.

Bancroft aside the rest of the batting has got up and running fairly well for the season. Dent and Tavare have been excellent, Van Buuren has scored runs, as have Mustard and Jack Taylor. The tail has wagged as well as it did all of last year. Young George Hankins continues to struggle and presumably coach Richard Dawson will be weighing up how to help him progress. The bowlers have all been in the wickets, with Craig Miles the latest to claim a five for. Ok, Chris Liddle still seems a strange selection, but he can be forgiven this week. Presumably more of the young seamers will get a run out in the one day games and this may help them force themselves into 4 day contention.

Gloucestershire now sit proudly in the middle of the division 2 table as they now enter the group stage of the Royal London One Day Cup. Rather incredibly the entire group stage will be played out over the next 3 weeks, with no breaks for rounds of championship cricket, meaning that the competition may actually keep fans engaged and we won't find ourselves entering the final round of matches trying to remember what had happened previously. Glos welcome back Australian international Michael Klinger, something that presumably won't make Cameron Bancroft feel much better.

Video highlights below:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Gloucestershire's 2017 campaign is up and running with convincing win over hopeless Leicestershire

Gloucestershire 466 for 8 dec ( Tavare 101, Van Buuren 79) beat Leicestershire 259 (Norwell 5 for 66) and 201 (Norwell 5 for 33)

After a fairly disastorous start to the 2017 championship for both teams the Easter matchup between Glos and perennial bottom dwellers Leicesterrshire was an early season test as to what supports can expect this summer. Whilst Glos fans will now be, if not filled, then certainly contemplating enthusiam. Leicestershire fans on the other hand, well to be fair, they've seen this horror show a few times over recent years.

An inspired Liam Norwell took home a match haul of 10 for 99 and a gritty effort from Will Tavare were the backbones of an allround excellent performance from Glos.

This is something that the Jessop Tavern has come to appreciate about this generation of Gloucerstershire cricketers, and is certainly a hallmark of the Richard Dawson era. Whilst the quality might not necessarily always be there, the heart and soul of the cricketerers he coaches cannot be doubted. Rubbish one week has nearly always been followed up by a much improved performance the following week. As a fan it is all we can really ask for. Grumble one week. Filled with the joys the next week.

An abject batting collapse (all out for 61 is about as bad as it gets) against Kent was cast aside as Gloucestershire racked up 466 runs in their only innings. Will Tavare batted until the middle of August in making 101 runs from 277 balls. Modern cricket it wasn't, but exactly what Glos needed it most certainly was. Around him were more enterprising cameos from Graeme Van Buuren (79), The Colonel (72) and Jack Taylor (60). Even David Payne had some fun in hitting 54 from 51 balls. Its hard to think of a negative. It would be nice for Cameron Bancroft to make a score to get him off and running, and we presume that young George Hankins is keeping Gareth Rodericks place warm whilst he recovers from illness. Other than that, it was a magnificent response to the performance at Kent.

The bol

wers then continued where they left off in the first game (lets forget, the bolwers restricted Kent in both innings). Payne and Norwell look sharp with the new ball, taking early wickets and always seeming to pose a threat. Craig Miles hasn't quite hit his straps yet, but we know this will come, and it was nice to see Jack Taylor be thrown the ball ahead of Van Buuren and perform economically. Last week the Jessop Tavern voiced concerns about Taylor's position within this bowling attack. He answered that in just the right way. Obviously Glos were chasing wickets when the spinner was called for. Whether Glos see Taylor as the attacking threat and Van Buuren as the leg stump dart thrower we will see.

But this game was all about Norwell. This was his second career 10 wicket haul, and included his 200th first class wicket. That has come in 58 matches and at an average of just over 28. For a player who has had a slightly injury plagued start to his career these are excellent stats. The less said about the ginger hipster beard the better.

So there we go. Gloucestershire's campaign is up and running. In a very competitive division 2 this year it was a vital win if Glos wish to maintain an interest in the championship this summer. It's a tough ask to expect this squad to be fighting for promotion, but being loosely in the mix would be nice.

It would be interesting to know how far this squad could go if given a bit of investment. Norwell, Payne and Miles have developed into a very useful seam attack. Taylor is a game changer, and Glos are hardly alone in not posessing a high quality spin option. Dent is established as one of the divisions better players. Van Buuren is a very handy pickup. Roderick, Tavare and Bancroft should all be capable of 1,000 runs. The Colonel is a bit of added experience. But wouldn't it be nice to see some additional quality added, to strength and deepen the squad. The selection of Chris Liddle probably highlights this more than anyone else. here is a journeyman cricketer, who for large parts of his career has been a one day specialists. His figures so far this season are 2-46, 1-44, 0-41 and 0-65. Perhaps he is being selected to provide an old pro's experience surrounding the relative youth of the 3 main seam options. But wouldn't it be nice if Glos had invested a little bit more in this position. We are not talking a world beater, just a solid pro. In our first match Kent rolled out James Harris (on loan from Middlesex) and Will Gidman (a new signing for 2017). Those sort of guys. The Jessop Tavern suspects it will return to this theme a few times in 2017.

Next up for Glos are a visit from bankrupt Durham on Friday. A good test for the batting revival against Mark Wood, Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth. However, Norwell, Payne et al (not Chris Liddle) may well be licking their lips at that Durham batting lineup. In the boardroom Glos and Durham exec's will kick back and contemplate the usefullness of chasing international cricket......

Critical game for the Shire sees promotion bid stall

Leicestershire 218 (Robson 62, Payne 5-36) and 181 for 4 (Horton 73, Cosgrove 56) beat Gloucestershire 183 (Taylor 51, Raine 4-57) and 215 (Klinger 54, McKay 3-43) by six wickets
Scorecard

Big games in the championship tend to be decided by experienced players. This was emphatically the case in the final Championship game at Cheltenham, where Leicestershire's senior pros guided them to a potentially tricky 3rd day chase without undue alarm.

We have previously written about how well Leicestershire recruited over the winter, bringing in Mark Pettini from Essex, Paul Horton from Lancashire and Neil Dexter from Middlesex.

Glos were put in under bowler-friendly skies on Day 1 and were dismissed for a disappointing 183, with only a battling Jack Taylor passing 50. By the close Leics were 122-5, only 61 behind with opener Angus Robson 49*. Leics reached 218 all out on Day 2, with David Payne finishing with an excellent 5-36. The lead of 45 proved important as the game progressed rapidly on the second day, with only Michael Klinger looking like batting for an extended period was possible. He ended the day 33* and a lead of 250 would surely have been hard work for Leicestershire to chase down against a strong Glos bowling lineup.

However, Glos slumped to 161-8 in the first session of Day 3 and only an unlikely partnership of 48 for the last wicket between Josh Shaw and Benny the Frenchman enabled us to set a target over 150. In the end, 181 proved inadequate, as despite losing Dexter and Robson early, the experienced Aussie duo of Horton and Cosgrove broke the back of the chase with a stand of 108 for the third wicket. Both departed before the end, but thew hard work was done despite a good performance in the field from the boys. Glos had bowled Essex out for 151 the previous week, but against a strong and experienced batting side you really need to set a target of at least 200 to have a chance, especially in a game which concluded with 15 overs remaining on Day 3.

A disappointing result to end the Championship portion of the Cheltenham festival, but onwards and upwards with 6 championship fixtures still to play, plus a T20 quarter final next Wednesday against Durham.

Day 1 highlights

Day 2 highlights

Day 3 highlights

Glos launch improbable promotion bid

County Championship Div 2: Glos beat Essex by 61 runs.

Gloucestershire's remarkable season continued last week in the county championship as the Shire bagged a third win of the season to take them to within spitting distance of the summit of division 2. With a game in hand. In a year when only one team gets promoted, surely Glos aren't serious contenders? Well, on recent form, you wouldn't back against them.

Despite stuttering with the bat on day 1 to be bowled out for 255, and then collapsing on day 3, losing their last 6 wickets for only 62 runs, the young Glos pace bowlers ran through Essex to bowl them out for 151, claim a famous and improbably win, and allow the hospitality tents an afternoon of drinking without having the cricket to distract them. Win win.

Much like the entire season, Glos were indebted to crucial performances at crucial times. On day 1, Cragi Miles' 56 runs, alongside contributions from David Payne and Liam Norwell, dragged Glos from 140 for 7 up to a total that at least got them in the game. An important 4 for 72 from returning loanee Josh Shaw helped restrict Essex to a first innings lead of 78. Roderick and Dent then knocked off this lead with their opening stand in the second innings before Maxi Klinger prevented a complete disintegration with 53 not out as the tail fell away. Gloucestershire then finally saw the very best of Miles, Norwell and Payne bowling as a unit as they finished with 3 for 26, 4 for 65 and 3 for 40 respectively. Norwell, Payne and Miles have been Gloucestershire's leading seamers for a few years now, but it is difficult to think of another match in which they have collective worked together to run through a team. If we can keep them all fit then Glos will fancy their chances against most batting units.

Liam Norwell now has 30 wickets at 25. Craig Miles has 27 wickets at 30. David Payne has 20 wickets at 40. Fitness has always been the issue with all 3 of these guys, but Norwell is still only 24. Payne is 25. Craig Miles is just about to turn 22. The Shire have the making of a decent seam attack for quite a few years to come. At the start of the season the Jessop Tavern did ponder whether we might regret not attempting to sign a consistent, more mature fast bowler to provide a steady spine to the bowling. Yet again, another astute observation from the Jessop Tavern that has been rammed down its throat.

One observation that we are standing by is that we are still not convinced by Gareth Roderick opening the batting. This said Roderick is steadily working his way towards a very solid season. Coming off the back of his first hundred of the season he now has 638 runs at an average of 42. This also includes 6 fifties. This is a welcome return to the early promise he showed when first breaking into the team and averaging 44 and then 55 in his first two seasons. Last year's average of 32 looks to have been no more than a blip, and quite possibly the move to the top of the order has helped rejuvenate him.

However, the Jessop Tavern grew up in the era of Alec Stewart, and thus we refuse to break with the belief that opening, keeping and captaining is possible. Especially long term. However, as Roderick doesn't spend half his time at the crease twiddling his bat or walking into drives outside off stump and nicking-off it is possible that this was the real drain on Stewart's energies.

So, Gloucestershire now sit third in division 2. 11 points behind leaders Essex, and with a game in hand against Leicestershire. Can Glos continue this improbable charge to promotion? Can they continue to fight on both the 4 day, 50 over and 20 over front? Will injuries catch up with them at some point? Is promotion even a good thing? All this and more, in the next exciting few weeks.

Video highlights:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Glos triumph against the odds

Gloucestershire 220 (Jones 50, Dernbach 6-35) beat Surrey 214 (Sangakkara 60, Burns 56, Taylor 3-43) by six runs
Scorecard

It was the worst of finals, it was the best of finals. We arrived, heard we had lost the toss and been put in. We were worried. We sat down and then Maxy Klinger was out third ball. Hamish was stumped down the leg side. Jade Dernbach ended up with six wickets for not many, including a dubious hattrick. We battled hard for our runs.  Jack Taylor upped the tempo but got out. Geraint hit a gritty fifty but then got out. We finished on 220 with more than two overs left to bowl. It didn't feel like anywhere near enough. We were not feeling confident.

Then there were early wickets for a fired up James Fuller. Kumar Sangakkara and Rory Burns put on a hundred together and things looked bad. But Kumar got out by chipping a Jack Taylor full toss to the fielder when well set. Burns then danced past one to be stumped soon after, followed by a slow squeeze applied by bowlers and fielders.

It should still have been easy for Surrey though, 73 runs in 13.4 overs was not hard. However, we continued to take wickets and it got tighter and tighter. Sam Curran looked like he would see them home right up until the point where he holed out off the first ball of the final over from Payne. The release of tension in the Edrich when Benny the Frenchman took that catch was palpable- the roar was loader than you would have imagined. It was ever better when Batty slapped one straight down Jack Taylor's throat at midwicket to complete a famous and nerve-wracking victory.

Our first final appearance since 2004 led to a 10th win out of 11 one day finals. What a day. It wasn't a high quality match, particularly from a batting standpoint, but who cares. The boys were magnificent when it mattered and it clearly meant a lot the players, judging by the scenes at the end.

Well done Maxy and the boys. You made all of us there and all of Gloucestershire proud.

Video highlights below:

Update- cracking video of the catches in the last over and the celebrations- from the guys just in front of us!

Glos triumph despite lack of obvious batsmen

Gloucestershire 416 (Marshall 70, Meschede 4-89) and 108 for 3 (Dent 65*) beat Glamorgan 299 (Salter 73, Payne 4-73) and 224 (Ingram 45, Payne 4-50) by seven wickets
Scorecard

The 'shire interrupted their 50 over winning run for a trip down to Swansea to face 3rd placed Glamorgan at their festival ground. This was a tricky fixture, especially as injuries left the boys without much in the way of batting firepower. Ian Cockbain and Klinger both missed out through knocks and O'Mish only played after being summoned from Bristol after Craig Miles pulled up injured on the eve of the match.

This proved a handy move however, as the Irishman struck a useful 70 in Glos' first innings in partnership with all round genius and newly-promoted number 4 batsman Benny Howell (67). Their partnership was the stand out of the entire match and again the only one above 100 on either side. Which doesn't paint Division 2 batting in a favourable light, but there you are.

Glos were in the field after losing the toss and quickly struck early blows through Payne and Norwell, before Jacques Rudolph settled in for a patient 68. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, before an excellent couple of partnerships involving Adam Salter saw Glamorgan rebuild from 186-8. Luckily enough he failed to add to his 73 on the second morning and we polished them off for a below par 299, with Payne impressing with 4-79. A six man bowling attack with Gourmet-Burger at first change and Benny Howell fourth seamer held up well, with both spinners returning economical figures, too.

Dent (11) fell typically early in our response, as did Roderick for 19 although acting skipper Will Tavare did better, posting 47 before falling to off spinner Salter. Then came the Marshall-Howell partnership and the lower order also delivered invaluable runs- taking us to 416 all out from 262-6.

Day 3 saw another excellent team bowling effort, with Glamorgan again failing to build meaningful partnerships on the way to 224 all out. Payne added 4 more to his tally for 8 wickets in the match and even Noema-Barnett chipped in with 3 of his own. Norwell took out the dangerous Chris Cooke, breaking a handy partnership with Ingram and had the last wicket not added 59 then the game could have finished inside 3 days.

As it was, Glos finished things off with ease on the final day, despite a worrying rain delay which saw 15 overs lost before lunch. Chris Dent recovered a semblance of 4 day form with 65 not out and we cruised to victory inside 40 overs, for an impressive third win on the trot and 23 points.

The win has lifted the 'Shire to 4th in the table (albeit level on points with Northants) and was especially impressive given the limited batting resources available. Well done lads, now back to the 50 over stuff before we face Surrey at Nevil Road on the 21st August.

Video highlights of a cracking win below

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

T20 roundup: Maxi(mum) Klinger and not much else = top of the league

The Jessop Tavern View is going to argue that this T20 recap has been justifiably delayed by the Shire's trademark inconsistency in the tournament so far. That or laziness. A great start against Middlesex was followed by a narrow loss to Sussex before a comfortable win against Essex made it two wins out of three.

Since then we've played four more games, winning two, leaving the boys handily placed at the top of the south group after 7 games. This hides a slightly concerning over-reliance on Maxy Klinger, whose remarkable run of T20 batting form reached new heights with a 69 not out, followed by back-to-back hundreds on consecutive days. Sadly both of these came in losing causes, against Essex away then Glamorgan at home, but still took him to the ludicrous tally of 403 runs without dismissal in this year's competition. A failure yesterday against Middlesex finally enabled him to achieve a tasty average of 413 in just 5 matches, with three hundreds already.

We note (thanks to the excellent Cricket Archive) that these tons take him into equal third on the all time domestic T20 hundreds list, alongside David Warner on 5 and behind only Brendon McCullum and the great Chris Gayle (a surely unbeatable 15!)

These are outstanding figures and it's a testament to the form shown by a man who also scored a hundred in one of his two championship matches since arriving from Australia. The benefits of an extended off-season after the Australian domestic season are clear for all to see.

Gloucestershire 157 for 1 (Klinger 69*, Cockbain 54*) beat Kent 156 for 6 (Bell-Drummond 31, Howell 3-18) by nine wickets
Scorecard

First up were Kent at run-friendly out ground Beckenham. Kent were restricted to 156 by a parsimonious spell from Benny the Frenchman, including dismissing in-form Sam Northeast for just 14. The result was never really in doubt once Klinger and O'Mish got cracking, putting on 60 for the first wicket, before Hamish was bowled having struck a six the previous delivery. This brought Ian Cockbain to the wicket and an unbeaten partnership of 97 allowed the boys to cruise to an easy victory with Klinger ending 69*.

Video highlights below:

Essex 181 (Pettini 68, Smith 3-26) beat Gloucestershire 163 for 7 (Klinger 104*, Napier 3-30) by 18 runs
Scorecard

The return fixture against Essex didn't go so well. The bowlers restricted a fast-improving Essex side to 181 all out, having been 98 for 1 after 10 overs. Tom Smith took 3-26 and got rid of dangermen Tom Westley and Bopara, while Fuller and Payne chipped in with two wickets each in economical spells. The problems started while batting, as a series of failures left Klinger the last man standing. Aside from Klinger, only James Fuller passed 20 and the fact that their 8th wicket stand of 71 was comfortably the highest of our innings tells the story. Klinger completed his second consecutive T20 hundred against Essex with a six off Shaun Tait, but truth be told we were never close to reaching our target. A disappointing loss, this. 181 was not a huge target at Chelmsford and the batsmen let down a decent bowling effort.

Video high lowlights of the Glos innings below

Glamorgan 191 for 3 (Rudolph 101*, Howell 2-24) beat Gloucestershire 172 for 6 (Klinger 104*) by 19 runs 
Scorecard

Another day, another unbeaten hundred for the skipper, but another bloody defeat for the 'Shire. Not a lot to write about this, other than this time we let Glamorgan score a healthy 191 which was always going to prove a challenging chase in increasingly dark and wet conditions down at Nevil Road. Jacques Rudolph carried his bat for the first T20 hundred of his career and his dominance was shown by the next highest score being Colin Ingram's 28.

Glamorgan then executed an exemplary bowling and fielding effort, with only Klinger able to make batting look easy. We were never really in the contest after slumping to 90 for 4 in the 13th over and changing the batting order to bring in the sloggers early didn't really help matters. That said, Klinger stuck around while continuing to blast the ball to all parts and you can't help but think the chase would have been easier had anyone else been able to keep him company for more than a few overs at a time.

Gloucestershire 214 for 4 (Cockbain 75, Howell 57) beat Middlesex 171 (Simpson 74, Payne 5-24) by 43 runs
Scorecard

So, to yesterday's match at Old Deer Park in Richmond. Luckily Middlesex aren't very good at T20 and have actually not beaten the 'Shire in 8 attempts. This proud record continued, as the rest of the boys finally realised that Klinger can't continue to score almost 60% of the side's runs and upped their game accordingly. Ian Cockbain returned to some T20 nick with a commanding 75, including 6 sixes, and Monsieur Benny managed a T20-best 57. Cymbals even had an enjoyable thrash at the end in making an unbeaten 34, as Glos ran up an excellent total of 214 for 5.

As with so many T20 matches, losing early wickets when chasing a big target quickly signifies 'game over man'. Once Miles dismissed Paul Stirling for 13, it was left to David Payne to clean up with an excellent 5-24. His haul included John Simpson, one of the few Middlesex batsmen to show signs of life with 74, and were the best so far in this season's NatWest Blast.

Glos out-do their doppelgangers

Gloucestershire 77 for 0 (Dent 42*, Tavare 32*) trail Essex 159 (Mickleburgh 42, Norwell 4-32) by 82 runs

Everyone once in a while you encounter a side very similar to your own. Essex may well be that side. Captained by former England wicketkeepers, both sides feature talented young number 3 batsmen, portly Kiwi allrounders, ageing Southern Hemisphere batsmen masquerading as EU players, young left arm seamers who have regressed a bit after promising starts, plus a smattering of handy young Englishmen. Oh, and England's Ravi Bopara has represented both counties, although with varying degrees of success.

One other similarity is both counties' love of the batting collapse. Considering the level of talent available in the Essex batting lineup, they have had a tremendous number of comic batting collapses in recent year. Not least the hilarious 20 all out against Lancashire referenced in Cricinfo's write up of today's play. Thus it was no great surprise when, having been put in after losing the toss on a rain-delayed first day, Essex failed to capitalise on a solid opening partnership of 61. Liam Norwell decided to bowl fewer four balls than usual and benefited to the tune of 4 for 2 in two overs as Essex struggled to 106-8. David Payne also got into the act, taking 3 wickets of his own, although at a more typical economy rate of almost 5 an over.

A final connection between the two sides is the Malik family link. Essex have signed the younger brother of former Pakistan captain and Glos overseas player, Shoaib 'double top' Malik on a short-term contract. A good job too, as the 29 year old struck a valuable 25 coming in at number 9 to help Essex from a truly awful first innings total to one which is merely bad.

Still, 159 all out was put into perspective as Dent and Tavare set about a decent opening partnership of their own, reaching 77 without loss at the close under sunny skies. The Jessop Tavern View is by no means as optimistic as Cricinfo's Tim Wigmore, who signed off by saying Gloucestershire may be envisaging their first win at Chelmsford since 1930. We would simply be happy if the boys manage to avoid a repeat performance of Essex's batting performance tomorrow.

Video highlights from Day 1 below:

Saved by the rain, pt 2

Gloucestershire 66 for 4 (8pts) drew with Derbyshire 278 (8pts)

It's not often that you finish a good versus Derbyshire thinking you've dodged a bullet. However, at 66-4 Glos were in a bit of trouble, having allowed the division's bottom side to recover from 153-6 to post a decent 278 all out.

There was never much prospect of a result in this match, with significant time lost to rain on 3 days and the final day a complete washout. It is also hard to draw conclusions from such a match, which leaves us 7th in Division 2, albeit just 7 points behind 3rd placed Essex. It was disappointing that we allowed a weak batting side to recover from a precarious position to post almost 300. This shows just how much we need our 1st choice bowling attack fit and firing in order to make progress.

We are badly missing some reliable backup to the ever-excellent Will Gidman (who limped around a bit during the Derby innings, per the BBC commentators), although Benny Howell did fill in admirably as 4th seamer in this instance. If you added Craig Miles, a fit David Payne to this attack, plus had a fully firing James Fuller (under par in this match) then you can foresee us bowling better sides than Derbyshire out cheaply. We are not including the unfortunate Ian Saxelby in this equation, as sadly we can't envisage him remaining fit for long enough to feature regularly at the moment.

Anyway, onwards and upwards to a t20 Blast match down at Canterbury tomorrow night. The weather forecast for the SE region has finally perked up a bit, so we could be in for an entertaining contest. Sadly, GO Jones is unable to feature against his parent club, but it should be an interesting contest nonetheless.

Video highlights from the match below:

Day 1

Day 2



Day 3

Glos in with a fighting chance after David Payne batting masterclass

Day 3: Gloucestershire 304 and 308 for 9 v Hampshire 422.

Gloucestershire will begin day 4 against Hampshire with a glimmer of hope of victory thanks to a gritty 84 not out from Hamish O'Marshall and some late order biffing by James Fuller and David Payne.

Earlier in the afternoon Glos had slumped to 216 for 8, but a partnership of 92 between Marshall and Payne has at least given Gloucestershire's boundary board bowlers a fighting chance.

Marshall in particular showed real application in his 193 ball vigil as he managed to occupy the crease whilst watching wickets tumble at the other end. The decision to field only 5 batsmen always leaves you vulnerable to collapses and when Gidders departed for a fluent 72 Glos went from 124 for 3 to 216 for 8. Not quite the 5 wickets for 12 runs of the first innings, and in these terms an over 400% increase in the return for 5 wickets. Still, it's hardly the stuff of champions. David Payne proceed to then show exactly when he was in the side with a superb knock of 44 including two reverse swept boundaries from the part time off spin of Michael Carberry. Having heard the news that Sam Robson had made a hundred for Middlesex we presume Carberry is now eyeing up the vacant spinners role as his only chance of ever playing test cricket again.

Earlier in the day Matt Taylor took his first first class 5 wicket haul and finished with excellent figures of 5 for 75. Hopefully the start of more to come from the promising young left armer.

Can Glos win it from here? Well, stranger things have happened but you suspect that this bowling attack doesn't have what it takes. We'll be happy to be proved wrong. But then we'd also be happy if James Fuller manages to go for less than a run a ball. The Jessop Tavern is easily pleased.

A long road ahead for England/the 'Shire

Gloucestershire 80 for 0 trail Kent 474 (Stevens 126, Harmison 106, Key 53) by 394 runs

Gloucestershire are facing something of a mountain to climb after two days of toil in the field at Canterbury. You know it's a flat deck when Ben Harmison gets a hundred against you and that's exactly what happened on Day 1. This was followed today by a ton for the ICC's favourite, Darren Stevens and some late order runs which boosted the Kent total to a healthy 474 all out.

Glos will be disappointed to have allowed such a bottom-heavy batting card, having reduced 2nd from bottom Kent to 46-3 and 113-4 on Day 1. The attack did ok, but the change seamers Payne and Norwell again went for more than 4 runs per over each, which considering they bowled 49 overs between them is a lot of runs to ship. What we find disappointing is that if 18 year old Craig Miles is capable of going for under 4 an over in his first full season, why are Norwell and Payne, both now beyond rookie status, not capable of 'bowling dry' as well?

It says a lot about the others that Benny Howell's military medium was required for 19 overs as well. Tom Smith managed only 7 overs for 15, which doesn't say much for either the pitch or Klinger's confidence in our latest spinner.

There were more positive signs when Glos batted, with Corporal Klinger and Chris Dent continuing their nascent opening partnership and taking us to 80 without loss at the close. A lot of batting is required to see us to safety and beyond and you would say that only two results are likely at this stage of the game, a draw or a Kent victory.

On the plus side, some time has already been lost to rain and the weather forecast isn't looking that promising for the next two days.

In many ways this game has mirrored the 5th Test at the Oval. Lose the toss and witness the opposition rack up almost 500, with hundreds from a perennial underachiever and a dasher with a unorthodox technique. Then face some tricky overs before the close on Day 2. the only difference is that the Aussies have Nathan Lyon whereas Kent only have James Tredwell. On second thoughts, these matches are identical!

Video Highlights from Day 2:

Glos and Somerset continue to be on course for August showdown

YB40: Gloucestershire 229 for 6 (27 overs) v Yorkshire 193.

Gloucestershire continued their fine form in all formats of the game with a comprehensive all-round destruction of a young Yorkshire side in the YB40.

In a rain-reduced match of 27 overs a side Glos got good contributions from their top four to post a formidable 229 for 6. Captain Klinger gave us a taster of what we might enjoy in the t20 with a bombastic 45 from 30 balls, ably supported by opening partner Hamish O'Marshall with 27. With the platform laid it was left to Chris Dent to push home the advantage with a 40 ball 56. Ian Cockbain also demonstrated what horrific form he is in with a calculated 46 from 37 balls that included only three boundaries. Cockbain now averages a paltry 73 in the YB40 this season. Awful.

Chasing 9 an over was always going to be a tough ask and Gloucestershire bowled well as a unit to take regular wickets meaning that Yorkshire never really threatened to chase down victory.

Glos continue to be level on points with Somerset at the top of Group C, but with a game in hand. Sadly, with the tournament just beginning to get to the business end and the groups heating up nicely we now have to wait almost two months until we see Glos in action again in the YB40. We have no idea why this is. We presume it is to accommodate the t20 competition in July. Thankfully this is the last season that we will have to carp on about this ridiculous scheduling. The 50 over competition next year is set to take place in a block in July and August.

Gloucestershire fans can now start to look forward to a couple of tasty YB40 fixtures against Somerset in August (11th in Taunton and 26th in Bristol).

A couple of belting catches from Gareth Roderick below:

Season review

Bloody hell. You turn your back for a couple of months, move house, quit your job and then this happens! Bottom of the league. Rock bottom. Of division 2! There are school teams who wouldn't finish bottom of division 2. State school teams at that. How did this happen. Too make matters worse, captain Gidders has resigned the captaincy. Our inspirational leader, gone. Can it get any worse? The next thing you'll be telling us is that Jon Batty has retired....

So that is another season over. The Jessop Tavern View is finding all this hard to take in. No, not the fact that Gloucestershire are rubbish, but the fact that we now officially write a blog for the worst cricket team in the land. Worse than Northants. Worse than Leicestershire. worse than bloody Glamorgan. Still, at least we'll have that block of flats.

As much as it is easy to make cheap jokes, and hell, Gloucestershire provide about as many cheap jokes as you could ever want, but actually this hasn't been that bad a season.

Ok, so the table never lies, but just 5 more points and we would have been looking at mid-table mediocrity, which is, after all, what we strive for. Considering the ridiculously truncated season thanks to climate change it would be unfair to criticise such a young group of players.

However, its not unfair to criticise Captain Gidman. 528 runs at an average of 25. In division 2 of the county championship. Gracefully, Gidman has fallen on his sword and passed over the poisoned chalice of captaincy to someone else for next season in an attempt to regain his form. Let's hope so.

So, for simplicity's sake, we shall attempt to break this season down into positives and negatives.

Positives.

Ian Cockbain - 764 runs at 34 in a season when no division 2 batsman surpassed 1000 runs in the championship. That's more runs than Joe Root (averages count for nothing, before people complain)

38 - James Fuller leapt to prominence in the second half of the season. Ok, so this was primarily because he went for an improbable 38 in one manic t20 over, but after this his performances started to match his potential. In the championship he ended up with 24 championship wickets at an average of 27. In the one dayers he also demonstrated serious ability to be a decent lower order batter. Also got into trouble for intentional beamers in a 2nd XI game. Nice work.

The rest of the pace bowlers - Will Gidman backed up his career year from 2011 with 44 wickets despite missing 1/3 of the season. Ian Saxelby took 35 wickets despite missing games. Norwell and Payne provided good support with 20 odd wickets apiece. Throw in Fuller into this mix and the pace men had a good year and certainly show the promise to be worth persevering with.

O'Mish - Welcome back to something near his best. 822 runs put him near the top of division 2 run makers. An average of 37 with only one hundred suggest he still loves to get in and then throw it away wastefully. Still, a welcome return to form.

One day form - Admittedly it messed up our championship form, but it was nice to have some one day cricket to get excited about watching again. 

The Bristol town planning council - Eventually decided to let us develop the ground. Bugger knows if this really was the best thing for gloucestershire cricket. But since no one at the cricket club had a Plan B should it not have gone ahead we guess it was a good thing.

Jon Batty - For retiring. 885 runs in three seasons. Thanks for the memories.

Negatives

Alex Gidman - See above.

Ed Young/Spin bowling in general - Probably now a one day specialist as failed to build upon a decent t20 campaign by converting this into the championship. Seemed to lack the control to even tie up an end. And we thought Vikram Banerjee was bad.

Richard Coughtrie - We presume that King John has made a decision that Coughtrie doesn't have the ability for this level. Surely there was no other reason for Batty keeping wicket. The enthusiasm with which the club website announced the signing of two young wicketkeepers suggests we'll have a new stumper next year.

Paul Muchall - What? Why? Who? How? Goodbye. Please.

Anthony Ireland - For the love of God, please do not re-sign this man. Crap once. Crap always.

Murali - How many shirts did he really sell?

New Zealand Cricket - For taking Kane Williamson away and for replacing him with Rob Nicol.

The Official Club website - If Gloucestershire can feel hard done by at having to endure a winter as the worst cricket team in the land then the official club website can have no complaints at being head and shoulders the worst club website in the entire championship. In this day and age it seems incredible that the club cannot have a serious website. The lack of squad news was infuriating. Is it that hard to get someone to update this stuff?

So there we have it. Another season over. Thanks to the surprisingly large number of people who read this over the season. Apologies for the lack of interest in the closing month. We blame the re-signing of Anthony Ireland for us losing interest. Finally, if anyone wants a slightly expensive sounding 'world chic' handbag, then we'd highly recommend checking out www.danaqa.com.

Humble pie never tasted so good

Gloucestershire beat Derbyshire by 7 wickets.

The Jessop Tavern View would like to apologise for the lack of posting on Gloucestershires glorious recent victory over run away division two leaders Derbyshire. We have slowly been chewing our way through a mountain of humble pie.

First we accuse Hamish Marshall of being washed up and more interested in maintaining his perm. He responds with two hundreds and a run of consistency we haven't seen since 2006. Then we question whether there is any talent in the Gloucester youngsters and, in particular, where are strike bowlers are. Liam Norwell, David Payne and the better Gidders then all respond with spells that impact the course of the match. Then we criticise the skipper of averaging only 18 and not pulling his weight. He sticks it to us with a match winning first innings hundred. Finally Jon Batty responded to our accusations of being shit by.....ok, ok, so Jon Batty is still very definitely rubbish.


Gloucestershire demolished a Derbyshire team who, until their trip to Nevil road, had been unbeaten this season. The bowling in particular was a welcome reminder of the talent we saw last season, but which had been sorely lacking this term. Picking four seamers and disposing with the services of Ed Young looks a far better bet. Relying on just three young bowlers to consistently provide the firepower is to put too much pressure on players still learning their way. With four seamers you take away some of this pressure and encourage the lads to be aggressive. Run in. Bowl hard. Look to take wickets. If you bowl crap then let someone else have a go. With four guys doing this you increase the chance of one of them having success. The result is bowling out the lead leaders for 95 just after lunch on day one. Whether this rotation of four seamers is viable when a spinner becomes a necessity remains to be seen. At the moment Kane Williamson is probably a better bowler than Ed Young, and thus provides spin cover. When Williamson heads off for international duty this might become more of a problem. (And speaking of Williamson, any news on who is replacement might be yet.....nope, thought not!)

The other pleasing thing about this victory was the way Gloucestershire closed it out. Heading towards the end of day two Derby were poised to fight back on 200 for 4, with two batsmen well set with fifties. In steps David Payne to remove Derby captain Wayne Madsen before the close. The following day the Gloucester dressing room must have known that chasing anything over 150 would be tough, especially given what happened in 2010 against the same opponents, and knowing that they only had 9 batsmen, with Chris Dent nursing a broken finger and Jon Batty opening. Will Gidman then took four quick wickets on day three and Glos only needed 84 to win. Despite losing our man Batty in the first over of the chase, Benny the Frenchman, and Williamson set up a comfortable finish.

So congratulations to the boys. And congratulations to the Jessop Tavern View. We like to think that our constant negativity and over the top criticism of good honest pros trying their best was a source of inspiration to the shire. We can picture our latest posts being pinned up on the dressing room wall by King John in order to fire the guys up. You're welcome.

Does anyone remember Bristol 2010?

Derbyshire 95 and 211 for 5 (Madsen 72, Redfern 64*, Will Gidman 4-39) lead Gloucestershire 294 (Alex Gidman 129) by 12 runs

Regular readers will know that the The Jessop Tavern View is not noted for our optimism. Glos are in pole position to beat Division Two leading Derbyshire tomorrow, but all we can think about is this game. Yes, we're probably being unduly negative, but the precedents are there in this match. Derbys were skittled in the first innings for under a hundred, then conceded a lead of 100 plus, before recovering in the second innings to set a small target. All we need now is a repeat of our embarrassing collapse in the 4th innings and it will be, to quote Yogi Berra, 'deja vu all over again'.

To recap the match so far, Gloucestershire have played really well for 2 days. Our young bowling attack ran through a decent batting side for a paltry 95 yesterday and bowled well again today, especially Will Gidman, who tooke 4 more wickets today. The 'better Gidders' broke a dangerous partnership between Wayne Madsen and Dan Redfern by trapping Madsen LBW for 72 and also nipped out Whitely before the close. David Payne made a strong return from injury, taking 3 for 23 and Ian Saxelby conceded a miserly 13 runs from 10 first innings overs. Liam Norwell as been a bit more expensive so far, but you can't have everything.

The skipper was the main man with the bat today, striking his long overdue first ton of the season in making 129. The key thing was how he contributed to several decent partnerships, which helped out first innings to a respectable 294, a lead of 199 on first innings which should see us win the match barring a comedy collapse when chasing. That or a massive Derbyshire partnership which kills the game off. Unlikely though with two days to go. We've said before that Gidders should be leading from the front more with the bat and scoring centuries is a big part of that. Having even seen Hamish 'I'd forgotten how to celebrate one' Marshall, score a hundred in last week's tough defeat to Essex, he must have thought it was about bloody time he cashed in himself. He picked a good match to produce what was apparently a fine knock and we want to see more in weeks to come. Of course, we don't actually play another Championship game after this until July 11th, so what form he picked up today could be long gone by then.

Anyway, we'll save that rant about the disjointed domestic season, where you play almost half your Championship fixtures by the end of May, for another day. As King John said after the day's play 'there is still a lot of work to be done... the first hour in the morning will determine how easy or difficult it is going to be for us.' Let's hope the boys can keep their heads and see us to a deserved victory over the runaway Division 2 leaders tomorrow. There you go, we ended on a positive for once!

Day 1 highlights

Where's Bobby Dawson when you need him?

There is a great little story in one of Simon Hughes' books that concerns Gatting and Gooch. Gatting is preparing for one of his final seasons as he desperately tries to hunt down his hundredth hundred. Gooch is encouraging him to put in a bit more effort with his sit-ups by quipping, "Come on Mike, I don't want you to have to get them against the universities". Gatting responds with something along the lines of, "That's not fair Goochie, you scored about 10 hundreds against them". When the Jessop Tavern was younger they use to peruse the Cricketer's Who's Who every season and a surefire sign of a shit player was someone who's highest score was against the universities. Bobby Dawson springs to mind.

What we are getting at is that a game against the universities is a time to fill your boots. Get stuck in and pad that average with cheap runs. In other words, we had Hamish Marshall nailed on for a hundred.

Instead Gloucestershire were rolled over for 227. The good news. Well, a couple of injured players are welcomed back. Dan Housego and David Payne come back after a few weeks out, where as Liam 'Lazarus' Norwell is back from the dead. Norwell hasn't played since a game against Middlesex this time last year. He only played 3 games last season, but he did potentially look like an exciting prospect.

We wrote recently that last week's game against Yorkshire would teach us a lot about this Gloucestershire team. What we learnt was that there was a lot of heart in this bunch of youngsters, and a great willingness to keep plugging away. Yorkshire were clearly a team with a lot more quality. That's fair enough. Despite a slow start to the season, it's hard to not see those miserable gits getting promoted straight back to division one. Whilst it is fine to be outclassed by Yorkshire, to be outclassed by some posh buggers from Cambridge is slightly harder to swallow.

We are perfectly happy to soak up all the talk of 'learning experiences', 'improving youngsters' and 'naivety'. However, we are only happy to take all this talk if we can see the potential in the youngsters. Now we are not saying there is no talent in this team, and we are hoping that yesterday was just a bad day at the office, but we would like to see the potential in these youngsters to become good county players. We don't expect all of them to make it as county pros. But if we are going to have to build our future on the back of these youngsters, then a couple of them have to go on to be consistent performers.

Let's hope for a few Bobby Dawson-esque performances over the next couple of days!

How good is Will Gidman?

Kent 119 for 6 (W Gidman 3-23) trail Gloucestershire 255 (W Gidman 56) by 136 runs

The Jessop Tavern View would like to admit to being big fans of Will Gidman. (This is only partially due to automatically liking people who share the same name as us). For a man who couldn't even get in Durham's 4 day side two years ago, he is now the key player in the Glos side. He may not be a spectacular performer with either bat or ball, but he has proved solid and reliable in both disciplines. His willingness to step up and take the new ball following the departure of Jon Lewis is a case in point and his 9 wickets last week have already been complimented by 3 in Kent's first innings.

Gidman began the day by helping Ed Young rebuild the shire's innings from a precarious overnight 131-6 to 174, passing 50 on the way, before being run out by Brendan Nash after being sent back by Young. Paul Muchall joined Young and they added another 50 before Mark Davies (one of many Durham rejects plying their trade in this match) bowled Muchall and had Saxelby LBW in successive balls. Young pulled a six off Matt Coles and finished unbeaten on 55, his first half century of the season.

The young seam attack made early inroads in to Kent's vaunted (by Div 2 standards) batting lineup, with Gidman dismissing Key, Ben Harmison and Powell, all caught at the wicket by Coughtrie. Saxelby accounted for West Indian Brendan Nash and Payne bowled Scott Newman. This left Kent in big trouble at 55-5 but Stevens and Geraint Jones rebuilt the innings by batting sensibly. They took the score on to 110, before Ed Young bowled Stevens for 54 with a delivery Alex Winter described on Cricinfo as 'probably one of the best balls Young has ever bowled, certainly in first-class cricket'. Praise indeed from a man who has actually seen Young play live on many more occasions than the Jessop Tavern View.

What can Glos fans expect from the rest of the match? A lot depends on the weather. If the rain holds off and the boys can bowl Kent out while we still have a lead of around 100, then a win is a distinct possibility. It wouldn't require a huge second innings score to set Kent an imposing target for victory and several sessions to bat out to avoid defeat. Any lead of over 300 would be useful with the way the bowling attack has performed so far. Who would have thought after yesterday (and our negativity after the Essex match) that the boys could potentially be looking at 2 away wins from our first 3 matches?

Preview: Hampshire v Gloucestershire

We're only a week into the season and already tomorrow's county championship game with Hampshire has the feel of a real make or break game for the young Gloucestershire squad. The basis of last year's surprising success was the impressive start the team got off to. Early wins help build a confidence in the young guns that never seemed to leave them for the remainder of the season. Worryingly, this season's difficult start, with 3 away fixtures on the trot, could have the very opposite effect of draining any left-over self confidence.

Almost the entire Gloucestershire squad faces the 'difficult second season' syndrome as they make the transition from being unknown quantities last year, to facing up to teams that have a year's worth of footage with which to analyse all the niggling weaknesses, such as Richard Coughtrie's inability to hit the ball off the square! The good players have the ability to adapt and build on their games. The Hamish Marshall players don't.

Last week's drubbing by Essex doesn't bode well. But lets not get down on the boys before we even get to May. What do we want to see over the next 2 and a bit days against Hampshire? Well primarily just a bit of fight. When you're a young player we can forgive shiteness, but at least show a bit of fight. This was by far the most impressive aspect of last season and also by far the most disappointing aspect of the dismantling by Essex.

David Payne returns to the squad and, according to the skipper, is likely to start. It'll be interesting to see if the batting order gets rejigged. We like Richard Coughtrie, but watching such a limited player at the top of the order is more disappointing than yet another pleasant 30 odd from Chris Dent. The Jessop Tavern seems to remember Ian Cockbain also opened at some point last year, yet now seems to be hidden at number 6. Likewise Hamish O'Mish also opened last year before he forgot that the perhaps of the wooden thing in his hands was to hit the ball with it. Whilst we appreciate that O'Mish has only just returned, we see no reason why Cockbain be stuck down at 6. Put Cockbain up top, then move 'the better' Gidders up to 6, with Coughtrie at 7. Christ, this selection stuff is easy!

Hampshire have overseas feline Simon Katich available having passed through quarantine, and England's latest pie thrower Danny Briggs to choose from. They also have a ridiculous website address that has nothing to do with Hampshire cricket and everything to do with their sponsors. Irrelevant, we know. But hell if you were sat here at approaching midnight writing a match preview for second division county championship cricket, then you too would find amusement in such irrelevant triviality!

Glos beat Leics to keep promotion hopes alive

Gloucestershire 394 and 54 for 0 beat Leicestershire 135 and 311 (f/o) by 10 wickets 

The Jessop Tavern View has decided to respond to recent (parental) criticism regarding 'having given up on the blog' by hitting back with a bumper series of two posts summarising the recent Leicestershire match and the in progress Northants match. First up, a thumping 10 wicket win over the hapless Leicestershire at Bristol.

This was a solid performance which lead to a good win over a crap side. High points included David Payne's career best match figures of 9-96 and yet more all round contributions from the mighty Will Gidman. It is hard to believe that a man let go by Durham has now scored 977 runs and taken 45 wickets in his first season of Championship cricket. Great stuff and surely the signing of the season. Praise must go to King John for having the vision to bring him in and back him to succeed.


It looks unlikely that Glos will manage to achieve promotion next week. We will need to win against 2nd placed Northamptionshire and then have the Surrey result go in our favour as well. The boys must be congratulated for continuing to fight for promotion when other, this blog included, had given up on our prospects several weeks back. The win against Glamorgan and Leicestershire have at least given us a shot going into the last game of the season. You can't ask for much more than that from a youthful side.

Videos from the match below:

Day 1


Day 2


Day 3




Day 4

Glos end 10 year Cheltenham jinx

Day 3: Gloucestershire 515 v Kent 205 and 168.

Once again at Cheltenham a side amassed a huge first innings total and then the team on the receiving end rolled over and played dead. However, for the first time in 10 years at the college ground that team rolling over were not Gloucestershire. Incredible. Over the last 10 years Glos have been thumped in some of the most remarkable ways, last year against Worcester we even turned down the follow-on and comically found a way to lose, but the 10 year hoo-doo is finally lifted and the boys can now look forward to the rest of the festival.

The only negative was that Chris Taylor was unable to score the 8 runs he needed for his double century. If that's the only negative then you've had a pretty good day.

Kent on the other hand were abysmal. Actual they worse. They were a disgrace to themselves and the second division in the way they meekly lay down and died. God it feels good to not have to be writing that about Gloucestershire any more.

The Sperm donor started the carnage after lunch with 3 wickets in 5 overs and David Payne finished the job with a slightly expensive 4 for 60 as Kent through the bat.

Gloucestershire now move up to second in the table, all be it probably only until Middlesex completed victory over Surrey tomorrow. With Surrey next to visit Cheltenham in the championship Gloucestershire have the opportunity to emerge from the festival fortnight in a very positive position in the table.