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.

'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:

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.