Gritty Chris Dents Tavern Pessimism

Northamptonshire 333 (Rossington 95, Willey 62, Miles 6-63) and 416 for 8 dec (Willey 104*, Keogh 81, Cobb 58) drew with Gloucestershire 296 (Jones 80, Roderick 56, Willey 4-72) and 267 for 2 (Dent 104*, Tavare 66, Roderick 52) 

The good thing about writing a little-read blog about county cricket is that when you're wrong, only about 20 people have read your doom-laden predictions from previous posts. Thus you can change your tune and rely on the fact that few people are going to slate you on Twitter as they simply won't have read what you said a couple of day's ago.

So, it fills us with pleasure to be able to report that Gloucestershire managed to comfortably bat out the final day at Wantage Road to secure a draw in our first Championship fixture of 2015. Chris Dent batted throughout the day to score his 6th first class century- amazingly his first in the Championship since August 2013. Dent was well-supported by first Will Tavare (66), second Gareth Roderick (scoring his 2nd 50 of the match) and finally Peter Handscomb on a day when only two wickets fell.

We are pleased that Dent seems to finally be knuckling down and attempting to fulfil his potential. At the age of 24 and after 68 first class matches, he should be looking to boost his first class average beyond 34. Scoring a match-salvaging unbeaten hundred is a good way to start. Let's hope this year is the one where Chris scores a KP-equalling load of Division 2 runs to prove himself a really good batsman.

What else to take away from our first game of the season, then? It would appear that the new coaching team has already managed to instil a certain grit in the side, as evidenced by our willingness to knuckle down and bat out day 4 for a draw. This is especially encouraging after the amount of tap the bowlers took from Willey and others on Day 3, when the prospect of being able to win the match was taken away from us rather quickly. It would have been easy to roll over in the face of a huge target, but we navigated the final day with ease. Let's hope we continue to see more of this as the season wears on, it's something we will undoubtedly need, especially in away fixtures against stronger sides.

We do need to work on our fielding though. The 'shire dropped a number of catches in the game, 5 in the first innings alone and Dent subsequently shelled another on the 4th morning. This is something which can be worked on and fixed relatively easily. The bowlers also need to stop bowling endless four balls when under pressure. Easier said than down, but it was worrying to listen to the radio commentary on Day 4 and listen to Fuller get taken apart to the tune of 6-a-over by Willey et al.

Anyway, we should end on a positive note for a chance- a good away draw, against decent opposition and Derbyshire to come in our our home opener next week, Onwards and upwards!

Video highlights from Day 4 are below:

We repeat....

Day 3: Northants 333 and 416 for 8 dec v Glos 296 and 35 for 0

Yesterday the Jessop Tavern View wrote about Gloucestershire's love of getting into promising positions only to throw them away. What we also didn't add was that Glos also had the uncanny ability to turn potentially winning situations into not just losing ones, but to turn them into positions of comprehensive defeats.

Today the Shire did just that. The first session was always going to be key. The first hour doubly so. Gloucestershire's still raw seam attack got stuck in and performed wonderfully taking 3 key wickets. And then the wheels came off. 100 for 5 became 418 for 8 off the back of some belligerent hitting from David Willey. Willey isn't exactly the first bowler to register his maiden first class ton against the Shire, but the way in which he dismissed James Fuller in particular will be a worry moving forward.

Cricket is always about recognising key passages of play and then finding the extra gear to seize these moments. Gloucestershire clearly talked about this today. Recognised that the first hour was crucial. Then set about their task fantastically well. Sadly no one had told them to keep their foot on the oppositions throat once the moment was seized.

If King John were still here he would tell us all about how this is a young team still learning their trade. Since he isn't around it was left to new coach Richard Dawson to be quoted after the day's play as saying "Myself and Ian Harvey were sat there thinking why would this happen?" Perhaps a read of the Jessop Tavern View back catalogue will provide him with at least some context.

The Shire didn't help themselves with several shelled catches at crucial moments however and the pre-season concerns over the bowling unit were very evidently highlighted today. Let's hope the boys can turn it around else it could be a long season. With 418 to score in a day it would take something pretty remarkable tomorrow for this match to be turned around.

Video highlights from Day 3 are below:

Glos crumble under Vince's onslaught….and before it

"This is how it feels to be Gloucestershire.

This is how it feels to be small.

This is how it feels when your team wins nothing at all"

Working in an office where radio 2 is the only approved radio station means that the Jessop Tavern is awash in a bit of britpop at the moment and, whilst the Inspiral Carpets aren't strictly a britpop band, the sentiment for Gloucestershire fans is true enough after a very disappointing second day of the season.

When the Jessop Tavern wrote yesterday about 400 we naturally now apologise for the typo. Poised on 292 for 5 overnight the Jessop Tavern of course meant that the boys would be looking to scrape their way to 300. Losing 5 wickets for 12 runs to hand the incentive to Hampshire was bad enough. To then manage to concede 400 in a days play is inexcusable.

We can't think of any other sport where by your team can go from looking so good to so utterly bad in the space of a day, and within the same match, as county cricket. It's wonderfully unpredictable, even if it means sitting on the edge of your seat wondering when your team's next bout of crapness is coming along. As all sports fans know, you have to take the rough with the smooth. As every Gloucestershire fan knows, you have to take the bad with the very bad. It's going to be a long summer.

Already in this match we have seen plenty of promise from youngsters like Will Tavare, and we know that the youngsters at the bottom of the order will have learnt a tremendous amount about contributing important runs. These same bowlers will also have learnt a lot about the correct lines and lengths to bowl at quality batsmen at this level. It is still a learn experience for these youngsters…..

Sorry. We thought we writing for the official site for a moment.

Yes, some of this team are still young but James Fuller has been in the first team for enough seasons now to not be going for over 6 an over. Captain Klinger bemoaned the lack of bowling as a unit. Where as Will Gidman and youngster Matt Taylor returned respectable figures of 4-66 and 4-75 respectively, the rest of the attack was bobbins. James Vince is a very talented young batsman who is finally looking like a real cricketer as opposed to a blaster, but he can't have scored many easier hundreds. 

To add to the disappointment, Glos actually did have Hampshire at 216 for 6 in the afternoon. The boys will now need to bat very well second time around to give this bowling attack anything to go at in the fourth innings.