Glos looking likely to have been spun out of the RLODC by Crane and Dawson

Hampshire 239 for 3 (Vince 89*, Alsop 53) beat Glos 237 ao (Jack Taylor 63, Dawson 3-30) by 7 wickets
Gloucestershire's chances in this years Royal London One Day Cup took a considerable battering by a Hampshire side that looked superior in all departments over the weekend. Glos have made a habit over the years of making themselves add up to more than the value of their parts. On Sunday Hampshire totalled up their own parts, decided they were significantly better than the men from the west country, and then exhibit the extra class that the names on the scorecard suggested was there.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first Glos actually got off to a fairly fluent start. Klinger, the Colonel and Dent all got starts before the introduction of one-time England spinner Liam Dawson and Aussie Shield cricket star Mason Crane spun the Shire into a hole that they never looked like climbing out of. Dawson and Crane bowled beautifully, especially in their first spell when 10 combined overs of spin went for only one boundary. Jack Taylor and Benny at least got Glos into the game with a 6th wicket stand of 70, but 237 always looked an under-par score.

And so it proved. Needing early wickets and control Glos got neither. Instead pretty much every Hampshire batsman looked very comfortable. Young Tom Alsop continued his fine 50 over form from 2016 in setting a nice platform with fellow opener Jimmy Adams. Even after these two departed, Test rejects George Bailey and James Vince had far too much for a Glos attack that has struggled for penetration in this competition.

In fairness Glos do a very good job at preventing this sort of match from happening too often. Running through the two sides prior to the match Hampshire's contained 6 players with international experience, two young players in and around the England Lions set-up, and a high-class county stalwart. In this case the class shone through. In a scenario like this Glos do become very reliant on Michael Klinger to fight fire with fire. On this occasion he wasn't able to and Glos suffered.

Glos now sit bottom of the South Group. Their 2 points is 6 adrift of leaders Somerset. Even 4 victories on the bounce would still struggle to see them qualify. The 4 games so far have just demonstrated the class difference between the top teams and Glos. Admittedly they were unlucky against Glamorgan, but subsequent stand out performances from Alastair Cook and James Vince have been enough to see Glos rooted to the bottom of the table. It's just one those things. No one has performed particularly badly, Glos have just looked a little bit short at this level this year.

New wheels found for Gloucestershire bandwagon

Royal London One Day Cup: Gloucestershire beat Hampshire by 10 runs

In what essentially was a must-win game for the defending one day cup holders, the Shire managed to rediscover their mojo with an impressive return to form to defeat Hampshire at the Brightside ground.

We don't need to look too much further than the opening stand of 242 in 37 overs to understand where Gloucestershire's victory was engineered. Chris Dent continued his wonderful boom or bust season with 142 runs off only 116 balls. Dent has been in tremendous form all year, and now has 2 hundreds in the one day cup to go along with the same number of championship runs. The Jessop Tavern would love to see Dent go on and actually 'finish off' a season, and not let such a strong opening half of the campaign fade away.

At the other end Maxy Klinger did what Maxy Klinger does. 166 from 150 balls. Allowing Dent to dominate the opening stand and then making sure he was there to carry on the momentum. He also carried his bat. Of course he did. His 166* was the highest one day score of his career and Klinger now has a list A average of 49 across his career. For a man shortly about to celebrate his 36th birthday that is a fine achievement.

In reply Gloucestershire's bowlers did just enough, taking regular wickets whenever Hampshire threatened to really give the run chase a serious crack. Norwell, Miles, Benny the bowler and the Gourmet-Burger all took 2 wickets and went at just 6 runs an over. Miles actually proved the least expensive of the Gloucestershire bowlers, a welcome return to form after his recent pummelling in white ball cricket.

So Gloucestershire's cup defence is off and running. Is it too little, too late? With only 4 games remaining Glos sit 8th in the table, although only 4 points off top placed Glamorgan. You would have to figure that the Shire will need at the very least 3 wins from 4 matches to have any chance of finishing in the top 4.

Brilliantly, we now have a month off from the Royal London Cup before it returns at the end of July. It is back to a steady diet of T20 and Championship cricket for Glos.

Video highlights are available on the Sky Sports site

Glos upset Hampshire to secure rare knockout win

Gloucestershire 218 for 6 (Klinger 87, Jones 39*, Arafat 3-56) beat Hampshire 217 for 7 (Adams 97, Smith 50) by four wickets 
Scorecard

This was great. Unexpected, but great nonetheless. Glos booked an away quarter final against Yorkshire at Headingley but beating Hampshire by four wickets, due in large part to yet another fine knock of 87 from skipper Maxi Klinger. The big Aussie recovered from a dropped catch while on 0 from opposing skipper Jimmy Adams to anchor the chase and another violent Jack Taylor cameo got us over the line after Klinger was dismissed to leave the match in the balance.

Yet more August rain forced the reduction of the game to 34 overs per side and Hampshire managed a handy total based around Adams' 97 and a late flurry of runs from Will Smith, who took advantage of a bizarre decision by Glos to play but not bowl economical left arm spinner Tom Smith. His 50 from 25 balls helped Hampshire plunder 77 from the last 6 overs to set a challenging target of 218.

Glos began the chase with Adams failing to cling on to a sharp chance at cover from Klinger and the drop proved crucial as Dent, Roderick, O'Mish and Howell as fell cheaply to leave the boys 104-4 after 21 overs. Geraint Jones' arrival at the crease at least provided Klinger with decent support and they added 59 at a good clip, before the wily Yasir Arafat got the big wicket of Klinger while on 87. This put pressure on the new man Jack Taylor, with 55 still needed from under 6 overs. Fidel Edwards didn't do much to apply continued pressure however, as his next over cost 19 including 5 wides and 3 boundaries. The next over broke the back of the chase, as Taylor settled in nicely by hitting Arafat for two huge blows over cow corner in the course of 17 from the over. He then got out, but only 11 were needed and Geraint Jones won the match in style with another driven six off Arafat (see the end of the video below for his delighted celebration of the win).

A cracking victory achieved in difficult conditions and one that set us up nicely for the semi final against Yorkshire.

Video highlights below:

Mid-season lethargy

The Jessop Tavern View has been busy. Busy grafting at the day job, working for the man and putting our noses to the grindstone for the past 3 weeks. Hence the lack of posts. We make no apologies for devoting ourselves to paying the bills and putting food on the table for ourselves....

Hang on a minute, we have just noticed that the previous post date is Wednesday, June 11th. The day before the World cup began. Could this possibly explain the radio silence over the last few weeks? We're going to hold our hands up and admit it- yes we've been distracted by FIFA's quadrennial football-fest. Couple this with simultaneously becoming disillusioned by Gloucestershire's lacklustre form in both forms of the game at the moment and there's our excuse covered.

So, what's been happening in our absence? Let's start with the good stuff.

Gloucestershire 112 (Dunn 4-37) and 506 for 6 (Cockbain 151*, Klinger 120) drew with Surrey 626 for 6 dec. (Burns 199, Solanki 143, Roy 121*)

Despite our prediction of defeat after Day 3 of this game, a great rearguard action saw us hang on for a miraculous draw. Ian Cockbain's career-best 151*, compiled over almost 9 painstaking hours and Tom Smith's unlikely 80 meant we lost only 1 wicket on the final day.

Essex 163 for 2 (Bopara 66*, Westley 55*) beat Gloucestershire 162 for 6 (Marshall 74, Masters 2-17) by eight wickets 
Hampshire 180 for 6 (Adams 69*) beat Gloucestershire 178 for 8 (Howell 50, Smith 3-26) by two runs

We then lost back to back t20 matches in different fashion. First, we were stuffed by a Ravi Bopara-inspired Essex. Then we were very unlucky not to chase down 181 for victory against Hampshire. We suffered a trademark batting collapse after Maxi and Gidders (A.) got us off to a flyer, but some late fireworks from Benny the Frenchman took us close, but no cigar.

Gloucestershire 391 (Marshall 109, Tavare 77, Cockbain 51, Hogan 4-57) and 165 for 5 (Gidman 47*) drew with Glamorgan 615 for 7 (Wright 123, Rudolph 139, Smith 57*, Allenby 57, Cooke 52)

Back to the Championship and another draw snatched from the jaws of defeat, this time courtesy of a gritty Will Tavare knock of 41, which ate up over 3 hours in a style his uncle Chris would doubtless have approved of. Skipper Klinger missed the match with a broken toe and stand-in skipper O'Mish struck his second ton of the year in our first innings. The game also featured yet another injury to a keeper, with Cam Herring's finger this time causing the issue, necessitating a debut for 17 year old Patrick Grieshaber from the Glos Academy.

Back to the t20, for another two matches against Middlesex (no result, rain) and Kent (thrilling final ball win). The most notable feature of these two games was the encouraging debut of loan keeper Adam Rouse, whose unbeaten 35 from 16 balls, including 3 fours in the last over, guided us to a tight victory against Kent.

Essex 541 (Bopara 147, Ryder 133, Westley 71, Browne 65, Taylor 4-125) and 10 for 0 beat Gloucestershire 224 (Topley 5-53, Masters 4-67) and 325 (Gidman 53, Rouse 49, Ryder 3-43) by 10 wickets

The less said about this next game, the better. Quick summary, bat first, under perform. Concede a stack of runs, again to Bopara and also Jesse Ryder. Again fight hard in second dig, but inevitably get bowled out and they knock off the 10 needed for a crushing win.

Gloucestershire 138 for 7 (Cockbain 52) beat Sussex 125 (Taylor 3-12) by 13 runs

Finally, another t20 win versus Sussex, this time televised and thus one of the first times we've watched Glos live this season. Another good knock by Ian Cockbain (arguably one of our players of the season so far) saw us post 138 after the match was reduced to 15 overs per side. We bowled and fielded well in poor light to bowl out Sussex for 125 and keep our hopes of a QF place alive. Sadly, the 2 point penalty we incurred for last season's dodgy pitch seems like it could possibly cost us that place unless our remaining 4 matches in the group stage go to plan.

Right, that's it for now. It's time to focus on football for another week today's LVCC match v Hampshire at the Rose Bowl for the next few days, before a crucial t20 derby v Somerset on Fridfay, then the Cheltenham festival starts next week. Feeling fatigued yet?

'England's next spinner' jibes rile Carberry into action

Hampshire (422 & 215-2) beat Gloucestershire (304 & 322) by eight wickets
Points: Hampshire 24, Gloucestershire 6

The Jessop Tavern View is not accustomed to having much influence on player performance. Even at the lowly level of LVCC Division 2, our pleas for increased concentration and application frequently go ignored by the Gloucestershire squad. This phenomenon appears not to apply to members of the opposition, though. In an earlier post, we suggested that Michael Carberry's best chance of an England appearance this season may be as the recently-retired Graeme Swann's spin replacement. These harsh words appear to have stung Carbs into action, as he struck an unbeaten hundred on Day 4, to guide Hampshire to an easy 8 wicket victory at Bristol.

It's hard to be too critical of a Glos performance which saw the boys score over 300 in both innings, not something we achieved on a regular basis in season's past. However, we did lose wickets in clusters on both Days 1 & 2, which contributed to our downfall against a powerful batting lineup. The bowlers tried hard, but ultimately looked pretty popgun on a flat deck, and a blunt analysis would suggest that we will struggle to take wickets against the better batsmen in the division. There were a few positives however, not least the excellent hundred from Will 'more shots than his uncle' Tavare and 19 year old Matt Taylor. Taylor took 6 wickets and certainly looked a better left arm option than David Payne, who seems to have plateaued with the ball and looked more like a batsman who bowls on the evidence of this match.

It's a bloody good job that Taylor performed with the ball too, as the other seam bowlers were disappointing, particularly James Fuller, who leaked runs with gay abandon in both Hampshire innings. The lack of a viable spin option should come as no surprise to Glos fans, who have witnessed numerous comedians attempting to hold down an end of the last few years. Let's hope that Tom Smith isn't too scarred from the tremendous amount of tap he took in this game, especially in the second innings, where an admittedly 'in the mood' James Vince really went to town on his bowling.

Anyway, this was only the first game of a long season and as captain Klinger stated on the official site, we need to learn some lessons from the defeat, not least avoiding losing momentum by losing wickets in clusters and consistently bowling a load of four balls to help ease batsmen into their innings.

Up next, fellow lower mid-table candidates Glamorgan, who we face at Sophia Gardens on Sunday. Could be an interesting contest, especially as the ever-fragile Ian Saxelby is in the 12 and can hopefully provide a greater cutting edge with the ball alongside Gidman Jr, Taylor and one of Payne or Fuller.

Video highlights from Day 4:

Big club mentality downs sorry Hampshire

Day 3: Gloucestershire 410 for 9 dec and forfeit 2nd innings v Hampshire forfeit 1st innings and 212.

Having moaned last week about the timidity of both Gloucestershire and glamorgan in not attempting to force a result in a mid-table division two battle we shouldn't complain about Hampshire's generosity today. After Glos had finished yesterday on 349 for 7 we commented that the opportunity to force a result in the final two days was still on the cards for Michael Klinger and his young side. Gloucestershire would presumably have been thinking of getting quick runs in the morning and then attempting to knock Hampshire over cheaply before setting them 300 odd on the final day and giving Will Gidman and co two and a bit sessions to bowl us to victory. If neither side had forfeited their innings today then this is exactly what we would have been left with. Hampshire would have been bowled out for 212 in their first innings. Glos would then have spent an hour and a half flashing away tomorrow to build a lead of 300 before declaring just before lunch and having the rest of the day to bowl themselves to victory.

Perhaps if we look at the scenario from Hampshires point of view we can better understand what took place today. Believing themselves to be a 'big club', Hampshire would have their eyes fixed firmly on having a good crack at promotion this season. With only one victory this season they would have been eyeing up a home fixture against the west country minnows as points in the bag. Desperately looking to kick start their season they just attempted to have a crack at scoring an unlikely 411 runs to win the game, even if they did have 5 sessions to score the runs in. We can't help but feel that Jimmy Adams would have been better off batting positively this afternoon in a first innings in order to rest the advantage away from Gloucestershire. If Hants had finished on say 250 they potentially could have tried to contrive something tomorrow.

Instead Hants attempted to negotiate with a Gloucestershire side who, after batting brilliantly on day two, held all the aces. Strange.

None of this should take anything away from a fantastic bowling performance with contributions from everybody. With Will Gidman back to lead the attack Gloucestershire suddenly have a steadying presence who takes regular wickets. James Fuller bowled excellently sharing the new ball with Gidman  before both Craig Miles and David Payne provided solid support to keep the pressure on Hampshire.

With both Graeme McCarter and Liam Norwell in reserve Gloucestershire suddenly have a bit of bowling choice. Sadly Ian Saxelby will not be available for the rest of the season as he undergoes shoulder surgery, but after todays performance this suddenly does feel like quite such a blow.

Glos are now sitting third in the division two table. We have two batsmen who have already passed 500 runs for the season, and have an 18 year old bowler who has taken 26 wickets. We are also level on points with Somerset at the top of Group C of the YB40 with a game in hand.

The Jessop Tavern View might have to stop moaning.

Genesis 26; 1-33

Day 2: Gloucestershire 349 for 7 v Hampshire.

Today's reading will be taken from Genesis 26.

"Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham."

In all honesty it has been more than just a famine at Nevil Road over the past few years. In 2012 Gloucestershire batsmen mustered together 5 hundreds between them. In 2011 that number was 4. In 2010 they managed 3. In 2009 we managed a more respectable 11. 2009 saw that number fall to 9, of which, terrifyingly, Kadeer Ali scored 3. Then, at last, in 2008 Gloucestershire managed 19 hundreds amongst them. That's 5 years of famine, in the land of division 2, where basically anybody worth their salt reaps aplenty.


Yet, if we read our Bible we should trust that God will provide. Actually, in Genesis, Isaac doesn't trust God and instead jogs off to Egypt for food. Or something like that. God reprimands Isaac. Tells him to sit tight. Then informs him that he has plans to build a block of flats, bring back a single one day international every year, and then the feast will begin.

After day one was washed out, Glos found themselves being asked to bat by Hampshire on an overcast day in Southampton. They quickly found themselves in trouble at 56 for 3, with last week's centurions Klinger and Gidders back in the pavilion, probably not liking the fact that the ball moved off the straight and narrow this week. Chris Dent made his usual contribution of 30 odd before Marshall and Benny steadied the ship with a partnership of 106 for the 5th wicket. Marshall then found able support from the returning Will Gidman to go to his second hundred of the season. That's right, his SECOND hundred of the season.

For 5 long years O'Mish has been a one and done man for the Shire. Happy that his solitary hundred would be enough to keep him in work the following year. Not since 2008 has he made two hundreds in a season. As God told Isaac, sit tight and the feast is a-comin'. In Genesis, Isaac plants seeds on the barren ground of the promised land and then reaps the benefits. Gloucestershire's batsmen now have 8 hundreds already this season. Not even God himself would have predicted that sort of feast.

If Gloucester's slightly tasty looking seam attack can get stuck into Hampshire at some point tomorrow then a result is still not entirely out of the reckoning.

Video Highlights from Day 2:

Hampshire match review: Glos again impress, despite rain delays and yet more injuries

Hampshire 274 (Adams 138*, Miles 4-83) and 120 for 4 drew with Gloucestershire 400 for 4 dec (Klinger 163)

Day 3 highlights:
  
Day 4 Highlights:




A week ago, the Jessop Tavern View was delighted to report that captain, Corporal 'Maxy' Klinger had finally delivered some runs and a first victory of the season against Leicestershire. Fast forward a week and we're pleased to report that Glos dominated a rain-affected match versus Hampshire and the skipper struck an impressive second successive championship hundred in making 163.


So, what to make of this week's match? Hampshire are clearly an inconsistent side; they started off well, but managed to lose comically to Essex from a winning position last week. Their batting lineup was missing Michael Carberry, who turned out for the Lions against New Zealand, despite being 32 and surely unlikely to represent England again in future. The absence was keenly felt, as Hampshire were reduced to 97-8 on the first day, before a partnership of 128 between skipper Jimmy 'not the Jamaican one' Adams and Danny Briggs took them to a reasonable first innings total of 274. Adams finished 138* and without him Hants would have struggled to crack 150.

The encouraging thing was that despite injuries to our seamer attack, we still took wickets and it was great to see 18 year-old Craig Miles take a career-best 4-83. Alex Winter wrote on the Cricinfo live blog that Miles has filled out and added several yards of pace since his debut as a 16 year old a couple of years back. The bad news was that key man Will Gidman injured an ankle on Day 1 and then somehow re-aggravated it attempting to open the bowling in the second innings. Surely with little to play for it would have better to leave him to rest up off the field? At least we have a university game next week, so most of the crocked players can rehab ahead of the crucial local derby against Worcestershire on May 22nd.

The batting performance was also extremely encouraging. Klinger survived an early drop in the slips to hit a commanding ton. He was severe on anything wide and also took a heavy toll on erstwhile Lions prospect, Danny Briggs. Chris Dent scored a typically fluent 40-odd, before succumbing to what is fast becoming a trademark waft and nick off to a very wide delivery when well-set. He's obviously learned a lot from a few years of playing with A Gidders and O'Mish. Dan Housego continued to impress, with a fast-paced 50 on Day 3 and Alex Gidman cashed in against his favourite Division 2 quality bowling in striking 69 which helped us towards maximum batting points. Benny Howell continued his happy knack of taking wickets while bowling reasonably economically at 1st change and also managed a red-inker to guide us to a declaration straight after lunch on Day 4.

The rain throughout the match meant that we were never realistically going to be able to force a result, but it was still pleasing to see the bowlers again make inroads. Our depleted attack still took 4 wickets before Hampshire re-took the lead as the game petered out into a draw. All in all, 11 points from a game where more than a day's play was lost to the weather is an excellent result for King John's boys.

Who would have thought it? Not us...

Gloucestershire (22 pts) beat Hampshire (3) by 33 runs

Bloody hell, we weren't expecting that! As the Times' Ivo Tennant so aptly put it in his match report (paywall), 'A match that before the start appeared quite likely to be over in two days, given Gloucestershire’s form and resources, and the fact that this pitch was one for the seamers, continued until there were just 12 balls remaining.'

This is a particularly encouraging win for the boys for a couple of reasons. One, it shows that a youthful seam attack, shorn in recent years of Lewis, Kirby, Gemaal Hussain and Anthony Ireland (ok, we're kidding on that last one), can still hold its own and bowl sides out. Two, the victory emphasises that morale remained high despite a crushing loss against Essex last week and that out young players don't give up without a fight. Glos had Hampshire 72-6, then witnessed a gritty fightback to take them to 190-7, before eventually finishing them off with just two overs left showed persistence, confidence and by the sound of it, some great slip catching from the boys.

Star performers included Chris Dent, who snaffled 5 catches to go with his first innings hundred, Will Gidman took 9 wickets in the match, including two crucial wickets in the 75th over as well as some valuable runs. Credit should also go to fellow seamers Ian Saxelby and David Payne, both of who chipped in with 3 wickets in the second innings while bowling economically.

So, after two Championship games, we are third in the table with 25 points. Not bad considering the pumping we took from Essex and the doubts raised on these pages about whether we had enough quality and resilience to succeed this season. We are delighted to be proved wrong. Roll on Kent on Thursday, a third consecutive away game before the home season begins against Glamorgan on April 26th.

Day 4 highlights from the ECB website below:

http://www.ecbtv.co.uk/video/20120415/hampshire-v-gloucestershire-day-4-gidman-strikes-in-win_2276246_2736378

Dent century and Gidman 5-for put Glos well on top

Day 2 and 3: Glos 314 and 129-5 v Hampshire 199

After Day 1 the Jessop Tavern View called for fight, particularly in light of the opening week's debacle, and we'll be damned if we haven't got exactly what we asked for! We are seriously considering offering forward our services as motivational online speakers for the boys....somehow we don't see the combination of King John, Captain Gidders and vice-skipper O'Mish being "we will fight them on the beaches sort of guys". Maybe we are wrong. Maybe O'Mish puts so much energy into encouraging the boys to fight that he has nothing left when he gets to the middle. Actually, maybe not.

So what has happened so far? Well, Chris Dent went on to complete his first proper first class hundred. Over the years we have learnt never to get over-excited about any promising Gloucestershire players (rumour has it that the Jessop Tavern View thought Carl 'Son of Gordon' Greenidge looked handy when first spotted.....we also thought Mark Hardinges looked fat and useless to counteract this) but Chris Dent's innings showed all the signs of a real maturing of his talents. He clearly has all the shots, but for the first time we saw him really apply himself, and actually convert a start into a potentially match winning hundred.

Will Gidman continues to be given the new ball, which we are yet to be entirely convinced about, but 5 for 48 is a good argument against us. David Payne took his first wicket of the match and Ian Saxelby took a handy 3-46 to leave Hampshire trailing by 115 on first innings. An early collapse left the boys in trouble at 71-5, before the great man contributed a valuable 25 not out to an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 58 with Ian Cockbain, who ended the day unbeaten on 27.

Video highlights of the match from the Hampshire site below:

http://www.ageasbowl.com/royalstv/highlights/

A bit of fight....and a bit of rain. A blueprint for our season

Day 1; Glos 195 for 4 v Hampshire

Having been skittled twice last week the last thing that Gloucestershire wanted was to lose the toss on a cold, damp south coast morning, and walk out to bat on a green top. But that is exactly what happened to Chris Dent and Richard Coughtrie who faced the unenviable task of trying to kick start Gloucestershires season.


Coughtrie at least got off the mark for the season, following his pair against Essex, but the 'House' managed to be out twice in his short innings to leave Gloucestershire reeling at 22 for 2. Experienced pros Gidders and O'Mish seemed to have summed up the situation and decided that their feeble technique against the moving ball meant there was no point in trying to hang around and so they might as well as have a dash. In fairness this now appears to be both of their default settings and a perfect example of players deciding that they will do their run scoring when the sun comes out, thank you very much. Both got in. Both had a dash. Both perished LBW playing across the line. The Jessop Tavern is going to copy and paste these last few sentences somewhere as we can't be arsed to have to type it out for every game.

Thankfully the Gloucestershire youngsters have completely disregarded the example set by their senior pros, as both Chris Dent and Ian Cockbain got their heads down and saved Gloucstershire with gritty run-an-over half centuries. In our preview for this match yesterday, we asked that the boys at least show a bit of fight, and we couldn't have asked for any more than the unbeaten hundred partnership these two produced before the rain came. Long may it continue. The rain that is. Despite a commendable level of application shown today, the Jessop Tavern View still reckons that a wet and miserable summer is Glos' best bet this season.

In an amusing aside, we were glad to see that we aren't the only ones who struggle to think of things to write about when covering division 2 county cricket. Cricinfo reported that Hampshire's new sponsors have done away with the Shane Warne suite, whilst the Shaun Udal suite survives. Interesting stuff.

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!