Gidman for England!

Oh Jesus! We know things are pretty bleak and confused in the England set-up but lets hope they aren't paying too much attention to Gloucestershire skipper Michael Klinger who has put forward Will Gidman for a test call up!

In a recent post the Jessop Tavern View marvelled at Gidman's consistency at taking wickets in division 2 having not looked like a cricketer of any real note whilst at Durham (admittedly he never really got a look-in at Durham) The Jessop tavern mused that Gidman was probably a very good division 2 bowler, but that he would probably be best served in division 2 lest he end up like Gemaal Hussain.

Still its good to see the skipper talking up our only good bowler. presumably Klinger fancies working on his fitness with some long days in the field should Gidman ever be seriously considered by Peter Moores. Since Moore's is a powerpoint fan, the Jessop Tavern is off to whip up a presentation to put forward the virtues of Ed Young as a spin option.

Katich ruins Gloucestershire's fun

Day 1: Lancs 174 -4 v Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire's young seam attack (combined age of Miles, Norwell, McCarter and Benny is 83) very nearly made the Jessop Tavern View eat its words. Fortunately Simon Katich and his ridiculous technique came to our rescue.

Gloucestershire will probably be slightly disappointed with today's final scorecard. Having reduced Lancashire to 90 for 4 just after lunch by breaking the all-test partnership of Katich and Ashwell Prince, Glos would have fancied making more inroads before rain and bad light ended play after only 48 overs.

Young Northern Irishman Graeme McCarter, who slightly surprisingly got the nod ahead of James Fuller, took 2 early wickets to justify his selection. He was well supported by Craig Miles, with whom he shared the new ball, thus meaning Glos opened the bowling with a 20 year old (McCarter) and an 18 year old (Miles). Sadly Liam Norwell sprayed it around a bit.

Having just watched the highlights from today's play, can anybody tell us whether Liam Norwell has always had such a ridiculous run-up? He seems to comically veer to the left before then approaching the crease at a bizarre angle. We don't remember him having this laughable approach to the crease, but we haven't exactly seen a huge amount of him since he emerged into the team.

Glos will need to take early wickets tomorrow morning and bowl Lancashire out for below 250. The pitch is expected to turn a lot on the last couple of days, so Glos cannot afford to have to chase too many. Still, maybe Ed Young will run through Lancashire in the second innings. Young has a first class average of 70. He's played 21 games. He's played 21 games as a bowler. This is the man's job. Awful.

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.

Concentrate on the championship boys

CB40: Lancashire beat Gloucestershire by 4 wickets.


The Jessop Tavern view probably won't be going to Lord's this year after Lancashire scraped a hard fought victory on monday night. On what was frankly a piss poor pitch that looked more like a slab of hard worn concrete Glos managed to set a competitive 184 primarily due to Ian Cockbain flogging 20 from the final over of the innings. However, such a total really required Gidders and the boys to take regular wickets in order to keep Lancashire on the back foot, and sadly a partnership of 82 for the fourth Lancashire wicket did the damage to Gloucestershire's CB40 campaign.

King John decided to roll the selectorial dice and came up with a batting heavy lineup that included seven batsmen, three bowlers and a Jon Batty. In fairness the pitch was crap and turned from the start and thus the seven batsmen also included part time spinners Rob Nicol and Chris Dent who both bowled a full complement of 8 rather tidy overs. However, neither took a wicket, which on a turning wicket proved to be the difference. Gloucestershire also weren't helped by an indifferent performance from Ed Young who really struggled to find either line or length whilst going for over 5 an over. Ed Young had a very solid t20 campaign by being able to fire his darts into the batsman's pads. However, it would appear that when he is asked to do more than this he really doesn't have the control at the moment. Time to give Jack Taylor ago we reckon.

It seemed strange that captain Gidders used only the minimum 5 bowlers and didn't decide to give either himself or Benny a bowl. Considering Ed Young's struggles, and the fact that Nicol and Dent looked about as threatening as the Jessop Tavern's own slow left armers, surely a case could have been made for the skipper wobbling down a few seamers on an uneven track. Ah, hindsight....

The defeat now leaves Glos third in the table on 11 points, a point behind both Lancashire and Middlesex, with the former still having two games in hand. With only two games left for Glos the odds are now steeped against them. The remaining fixtures are home against Lancashire and then away against Leicestershire. It will pretty much be a case of having to win both those games and then pray. Who wanted to go to a Lord's final in mid September anyway!

Cowan cashes in

We knew Ed Cowan was a good signing. We said he was test class. We said he'd have a point to prove to the Aussie selectors. Hell, all Aussies score runs in county championship. It's as certain as day turning into night. Let's not consider the fact that Cowan will basically have ended up being signed for that solitary t20 innings against Worcestershire. It's money well spent to help an Aussie get a feel for English conditions. After all, they'd do the same for us!

Anyway, the rain has ruined the first championship match at this years Cheltenham festival but not before Ed Cowan had the chance to prove to English fans that he'll be much less fun to watch in the ashes than Phil Hughes. Cowan's 103 occupied 268 balls, all be it in trying conditions. Cowan has already indicated that he would fancy playing for Glos in the future, presuming when the Aussie selectors work out that he's a 30 year old grinder averaging less than 30 in test cricket. Judging by his merciless plunder so far, we'd welcome him back!

HOM continues to look back to his imperious 2006 form. Those 5 years have been worth the wait.

Dan Housego took his opportunity to prove he is very much in the mix with a stubborn 60.

All in all, from what little play has been possible, its been all positives.

The downside is that Will Gidman was unavailable for selection due to a side injury. Much like Yoga, the better Gidders offers Glos fantastic flexibility and balance by being able to bat at 6 and open the bowling. If this injury rules him out for any length of time then it will be interesting to see how King John chooses to shuffle his pack. Ed Young has been picked for this match, and offers depth to the batting if not much of a spin threat. With Jon Batty still in the side Glos are already playing with only 10 batsmen. 9 and a half if we accept that the skipper never really fancies it when the ball moves around. As for Chris Dent? Well God himself is sat wondering what has happened to his finger injury. Is it too much to ask that when the official website posts team news (almost an hour into play on the first morning of a game) that they include a little bit of an injury update to players who would normally have been selected? What's that you say? It is too much. Fair enough.

Day 1 highlights:



Day 2 highlights:

At least we didn't die wondering

Yorkshire forfeit and 402 for 6 (Jaques 160, Ballance 121*) beat Gloucestershire 351 for 9 dec (Williamson 111, Bresnan 5-81, Patterson 4-77) and 48 for 0 dec by four wickets

So, we lost the game to Yorkshire on Saturday. By the end it was a bit of a rout, with both Phil Jaques and Gary Ballance having scored hundreds. Some fans may be disappointed that we even set Yorkshire a target, but let's be realistic, they scored 370 in a day to win, which is good going at Bristol, even against an inexperienced attack such as ours. There is no shame in losing to such a strong side as Yorkshire, who featured Adil Rashid coming in at number nine should they have needed him. Yorkshire were also under pressure, having been relegated last season and then failing to win in their opening 3 chanpionship matches.

Phil Jacques is a quality player, with 9 hundreds in 28 matches and a first class average approaching 50. Let's not forget he also scored 3 hundreds in his 11 tests for Australia. I'm not sure that facing an attack comprising Will Gidman, Ian Saxelby, debutant Graeme McCarter and Ed Young, plus various part timers, was the greatest challenge he's ever faced. As Alex Winter mentions in his Cricinfo report, taking wickets became particularly difficult on a pitch which made taking wickets with the old ball 'exceptionally difficult'. Gary Ballance's superb unbeaten hundred should not be overlooked either. Yorkshire needed someone else to contribute alongside Jaques and the Zimbabwean delivered in fine style, ending 121* with consecutive sixes off Ed Young.

Still, a lot to be positive about from a Glos perspective. Kane Williamson struck a superb hundred (his third in successive matches, including his match-saving century for New Zealand against South Africa) and looks in sublime touch already. Chris Dent again scored important first innings runs and Graeme McCarter performed very well for a 19 year old on championship debut. Even Hamish Marshall almost got a 50!

As Alex Gidman said after the game, things could be a lot worse for such a young and inexperienced side. At least we showed some spirit to set up a run chase and bowled with a lot of heart in trying to defend the target. No championship game for the 'Shire this week, but Northamptonshire away next week should be a tough challenge.

Video highlights from Day 4 below:

World's worst cricket competition up and running

Yes ladies and gents its that time of year again. Time to embark on yet another rollercoaster of emotions that is the CB40 competition. Oh yes. And if indeed the CB40 were a rollercoaster, it would be one of this shit kiddie dragon ones that applies the brakes every time it goes down a slope. Actually, the Jessop Tavern View would rather be stuck on a never ending kids rollercoaster than watch the CB40, and we have a notoriously weak stomach for rollercoasters.

Yet again the CB40 competition pioneers the 40 over game, a format of the game played nowhere else on the planet. A competition that the Morgan report described as "not working from either a financial, or cricketing perspective". A competition whose structure of only one team qualifying from groups of seven means that after the first weekends round of matches, teams can already be pretty much eliminated from the competition, yet still have 10 fixtures left to play.

Naturally, the Jessop Tavern View reserves the right to withdraw these comments should Glos reach the final.

So this Bank Holiday weekend has seen the boys lose a nailbiter to Holland and, this evening, comfortably beat a disinterested Middlesex side live on TV. Being as this second game marked the first time I have been able to watch the boys live, I continue to be impressed by the character of the team, if not quite the talent. To lose a final ball thriller against Holland at home, and then immediately to travel to London to play another game, Glos showed remarkable backbone to bounce back so impressively. After saying the same for nearly all of last season, as well as for the first month of this, the Jessop Tavern View may finally have to shake its pessimistic nature and accept that this Gloucestershire side no longer rolls over and dies.

Tonight saw impressive performances from Ed Young, our man Benny, and bugger us if Hamish O'Marshall didn't contribute for a second time in a week. Being as this is the first time we have seen Benny bat we are now wondering whether he always wanders across his stumps like he did tonight. A sort of Kim Barnett, but instead of starting a foot outside leg stump, Benny starts on about middle and leg. Anyway, his innings showed a real maturity, and some considerable common sense. Knowing when to hit the accelerator, or when to just keep the scoreboard ticking is clearly something he learnt at Hampshire. Apparently Benny is on a rolling, game by game contract. We say sign him up. The guy is from Bordeaux, so even if he goes a bit crap, he should know a good bottle of red, which is always a useful thing to bring to a dressing room.

According to the Sky pundits, Gloucestershire will be focusing on the one day games this season as we haven't a hope of doing anything in the championship (These are the same pundits who described O'Mish as the engine room of our batting!) Whilst we are not prepared to throw in the towel in the championship just yet, a nice run in a one day competition this year would make for a nice change from a never-ending series of dead rubbers in both the CB40 and T20.

Next up for the boys, however, is Yorkshire in the county championship on Wednesday.

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?

Chris Taylor takes Glos to tribunal... County reply by signing Dan Housego

What is going on over at Nevil Road this off season? From the blunt rejection by Bristol Council of the Shire's ground redevelopment plans, to the news that Chris Taylor is taking the county to an employment tribunal after failing to agree a new contract, it seems that the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

We think it's bloody sad to see Taylor go after 12 years of service, particularly following his return to form with the bat last season. Surely Hamish Marshall is kissing his lucky four leaf clover after it turned out that his renegotiated deal wasn't dependant on the outcome of the planning application. You have to wonder why the club showed more loyalty to the Kiwi Irishman, whose form has dipped every season since his debut in 2006 over a loyal servant, coming off a good season and who has managed to land himself a coaching role in the England Lions setup. We're sure Tom Richardson has his reasons. It would be good to hear whether he thinks he made the right decision if Taylor wins at the tribunal.

The one potential bright spot is the signing of Dan Housego from Middlesex. Now, I've just read that sentence again and I realised it sounds insane. On the face of it, he's not great, averaging 31 in 8 appearances in 2011 (some may say this is the perfect average for a Gloucestershire number three). However, he was the top run-scorer in 2nd XI cricket last year (we know) and at 23, he has time on his side. He also began his career with the Glos academy, so the signing is a homecoming of sorts. He's pencilled in to bat at number three and it will be interesting to see how he fills the role occupied by much-hyped gym instructor, Kane Williamson last year. Williamson was a disappointing acquisition in our eyes and his form with the bat flattered to deceive. Sure, he scored a couple of hundreds and looked great in doing so, but he also had numerous failures, which isn't good enough for a batsman of his calibre playing in Division 2, a place where Geoffrey Boycott's grandma and her stick of rhubarb would cash in every time.

In other news, readers of the official site (all three of you) will have enjoyed Ed Young's posts from the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy in Perth. Let's hope that the experiences gained while sunning himself in Oz while the rest of us freeze our arses off in the UK will stand him in good stead when the new season begins in April. I'm sure most of you are aware that we've re-signed Murali for T20 matches in 2012. For all the impact he had last year, The Jessop Tavern View wonders if Glos might have been better off saving their pennies. They may well need them now the ground redevelopments aren't going ahead.

APR Gidman: An apology

Day 3: Gloucestershire 261 and 161 - 5 beat Surrey 225 and 195 by 4 wickets.

Points: Gloucestershire 21, Surrey 4.


It wasn't meant to be like this. The Jessop Tavern View thought it was being all big and clever by reckoning the 30 odd extra runs Glos had given away cheaply on days 1 and 2 were going to be the difference. At 54 for 5 this afternoon, we thought that even when the boys crumbled to defeat, we could at least console ourselves by writing a smug post this evening. Instead we are going to have to eat some serious humble pie as a result of captain marvellous batting us practically single-handedly to an absolutely fantastic win.


Now it's fair to say that the Jessop Tavern View has not been too positive about our glorious skipper. 'Flat track bully', 'cowardly hiding down the order' and 'unfulfilled talent' have all been used to describe our born leader of men. Well hands up. Today Alex 'by far the better' Gidman proved us completely wrong. When the going got tough our skipper rolled up his sleeves and said, "don't worry lads, I'll sort this out". It's exactly the sort of innings not seen from a Gloucestershire batsman in quite some time.

Mark Church, of BBC London, described the pitch as a typical 1980's 3 day pitch. Gidman described it as a deliberate seamers wicket (something he ruefully admitted that Glos have often produced to their detriment). Whatever the state of the pitch, it has produced a fantastic game of cricket.

Gloucestershire decided to make the game even more interesting by bizarrely keeping Ian Saxelby out of the attack until 45 minutes into the day's play. By this point Surrey had battled to 179 for 5 and looked poised to set Gloucestershire something in excess of 200 to chase. Within about half an hour of being introduced into the attack Saxelby had blown through Surrey's tail and finished with career best figures of 6 for 69, and 10 for 142 in the match. The only slight criticism of Saxelby's performance is that he went at almost 5 an over. Splitting hairs really.

I don't think we were the only Glos supporters who looked at 160 to win and shuddered. So often in the recent past have the bowlers worked hard to set up this scenario only for the batsmen to throw it away. At 54 for 5 a few of the older heads in the dressing room must have been thinking 'here we go again'. But as we have seen all season, this young Gloucestershire side is made of tougher stuff and the main story of the season has been our refreshing ability to fight our way out of difficult situations. As brilliantly as captain marvel played, he couldn't have done it without the support of two of the young guns, as first Coughtrie and then Ed Young helped Gidders lead us to glory.

The boys are now third in the table after half the season. Next up in the championship we face second placed Middlesex. So the Jessop Tavern View does get a smug feeling after all. But smug because, for the first time in ages, we feel we are supporting a decent team. Oh, and Alex, if you happen to read this. We're sorry...but only if you go on and average 50 for the season!

Ed Young hits half century as Glos recover after the rain

Day 2 close: Essex, 25-0, trail Gloucestershire 255, by 230 runs

The rain in Bristol falls mainly on Nevil Road. At least we have a good drainage system. Having seen 72 overs lost yesterday and a slow day's play on Day 1, The Jessop Tavern View has decided we will limit ourselves to a recap of events so far in the match.

Gloucestershire recovered well from the depth of 159-8 on Day 1, to reach 229-8 at the close of Day 1 and extended this to 255 all out yesterday. Notable performers came from three youngsters; Richard Coughtrie, Kane Williamson and former spin bowler and now batsman, Ed Young. Coughtrie belied his image as a man who could score 20 in 3 hours and then get out, by scoring 45 in over 3 hours and then getting out. This was a shame, as he had shown remarkable restraint on a day when the slip cordon was always interested, especially when the Division's leading wicket-taker David Masters was bowling. Kane Williamson again looked a class above the rest of the batting, as he struck 8 fours in an attractive 50, before immediately nicking Bopara to Foster, who took a stunning one-handed catch. This will have pleased Bopara, who now considers himself a bowling allrounder and will be hoping to replace the injured Jimmy Anderson for the Lords Test on Friday.

The third knock of note came from Ed Young, who struck his maiden first-class fifty. Young put on 70 with Jon Lewis, who again proved that a good technique is often overrated compared with a good eye and determination to stick around in seam-friendly conditions.

The Gidman brothers both failed, disproving the Jessop Tavern View's theory that one of the two will always be in good form, while the other disappoints. Alex Gidman again fell LBW attempting to work to leg. You would think that fresh off a big hundred in our last game and facing Reece Topley, a young left armer already gaining some column inches, he would have been wary of the inswinger early on in his innings. He was not, played all around it and was palpably LBW.

It was encouraging to see Chris Dent return to the side after his broken finger, but less pleasing to see him down at number 7. Having gone through this palaver last season, surely it is time for him to be given a consistent run at the top of the order? While credit is due to Coughtrie for opening for the majority of the season so far, you would think that we should aim to open with Dent and Cockbain where possible, if only for the fact that Dent already has a season of first class experience under his belt.

If the rain hold off today, it will be interesting to see if we can make inroads into the Essex batting lineup and make a match of it.

It's all over for the CB40....roll on the T20.

Well, frankly the CB40 is a complete joke of a competition anyway. Who wanted to win it? Gloucestershire now face about a hundred more matches in the competition with almost no chance of progressing. Yippie! Honestly, we know we are hardly the first to say this but the format of the CB40 competition is staggeringly stupid...even in the world of cricket where staggeringly stupid is frequently taken to new and unparallelled levels.

Gloucestershire lost last night by 41 runs and conceded 32 extras in the field. Enough said.

Despite conceding 271 runs to Notts the boys again showed good fight with the bat which perhaps gives some sort of hope for the up and coming T20 games. It is hard to really know how to feel when your team crashes out of these one day competitions. Personally we would rather see a stronger championship side, yet one day cricket brings in the money and the glory.

Ed Young bounced back positively from a poor showing (or, "outrageously awful", if you read the boys at Glos la la la - come on guys, he's only 22!) at Leicester last week. He batted well and bowled economically. With the spin department our biggest problem this season let's hope he can continue to develop his bowling to go alongside his evident talent with the bat.

Will Gidman's hand injury has been described as a soft tissue injury. Hopefully he will be fit for the weekend's game against Essex. A return to proper cricket, in a proper competition, before the circus arrives in June.

Grace Road: as flat as its name

Leicestershire 323 & 245-5 drew with Gloucestershire 504-9 dec. ( Leics 7pts, Glos 11pts)

Grace Road proved true to its name as Gloucestershire toiled hard but failed to dismiss Leics for a second time to claim victory. Still, the Jessop Tavern View feels an away draw is a good result and one that the county have struggled to achieve in the last few seasons, a fact mentioned by Alex Gidman after the match.

The batting performance was very encouraging, with Gidman scoring some much-needed runs and maximum batting points taken. Kane Williamson's century, while an excellent knock, was less of a surprise as he looks a class act. We expect it won't be the only hundred from him this season. We would go as far to say that he looks an excellent addition already and was arguably the best possible overseas player the county could have tempted to Nevil Road. Time for some rare praise for the Richardson-Bracewell combo, perhaps? Also of note, his Shoaib Malik-esque off spin took more wickets than Banerjee and Ed Young combined.


It is of course unfair to judge Ed Young on the 5 overs Gidman allowed him in the match. You have to wonder what the point of picking him was, unless it was purely to strengthen the batting. The point of Banerjee is less clear. You could argue he was playing to lure the opposition into a false sense of security, thus prompting and error. However, the amount of dross he bowls you wonder whether even this questionable strategy is worth pursuing. Mind you, he was 9 not out when we batted.

Anyway, a CB40 thriller v Notts on Wednesday, then Essex up next in the Championship on Sunday. Should be a good game. We might even preview them if we're feeling inspired!

Ed Young is our man - You read it here first

Day 3: Gloucestershire 504 -9/dec v Leicestershire 315 - 9.

Well it's not like we didn't warn you. 'Ed Young will be the man to keep your eyes on', we confidently predicted at the end of day 2, and so it proved. His 2 overs for 12 runs proved to be the catalyst for the overconfidence that led to Leicestershire's collapse from 195 for 0 to 315 for 9. We're sure that if you didn't know we talked utter bollocks before, you do now.

Yet again this Gloucestershire team continue to fight during every session. After last weeks humiliation against Northants its very encouraging to see the boys strike back in such a positive manner. This game has really been all about the more experienced heads. Where as the youngsters have impressed in earlier games this time it has been the captain and the Sperm donor who have led the way, ably abetted by Kane Williamson who we consider an experienced head despite being only 20.

On a pitch that has offered very little the Gloucestershire seamers decided against the early season tactic of firing down as many 4 balls as possible and decided instead on making scoring as difficult as possible. We've questioned before whether this seam attack has the ability to dry up the runs on lifeless pitches. Here was our answer.

It is to be hoped that the boys are able take the final wicket before Leicestershire can add the 40 runs they require to avoid the follow-on and that the pitch then deteriorates rapidly. Whether Gloucestershire possess a spinner capable of taking wickets once the shine leaves the new ball will be the biggest question. We've said it before and we'll say it again, Ed Young will be the man to keep an eye on. Heck, it's not as if Banerjee is going to spin us to victory.

Alex Gidman finally gets runs as Glos rack up a big total

Day 2, Close: Leicestershire 15-0 trail Gloucestershire 504-9 by 489 runs (PTS: Leics 1, Glos 5)

Prior to today, Alex Gidman had not scored a Championship century since September 2009. Given that all 15 of his Championship hundreds have come in the course of large team totals, he could be seen as a bit of a flat track bully. The Graeme Hick of Division 2 of the county championship, if you will. Only less good. Over 100 first class hundreds less good, actually.

Despite our cynicism, The Jessop Tavern View is pleased that Alex finally scored some runs today. We know the pitch is flat. We know that Leicestershire's attack is a bit knackered. Claude Henderson is 39, made his first class debut in 1990 (!) and has already bowled 169 overs in 4 day cricket coming into this match. Still, 168 is a good knock and he scored them at a reasonable pace. The better brother, Will Gidman, had a rare failure today, falling LBW to Henderson for just 16, proving that the brotherly form baton was firmly with Alex on this occasion.

The match result from here depends largely on our attack's ability to take 20 wickets. Lewis and Saxelby made little impression in the overs before the close, so it will be down to our four-pronged (if you believe that Williamson and Taylor count as bowlers) spin attack to do the damage. Worrying, when the 'best' of these is Vikram Banerjee, a man whose 96 first class victims thus far have come at an average of 45! Ed Young will be the man we'll be keeping an eye on tomorrow. By eye, we of course mean ear, as the excellent Glos Cricket Radio is the closest we'll get to the live action. Young is a very promising youngster, by all accounts, and hopefully the man for the job over the next two days.

Let's hope for a nice dry day tomorrow to turn the pitch into a raging bunsen. Cmon the 'shire!