The Jessop Tavern View is so enthused by last weeks thrilling victory over promotion favourites Hampshire, that they are writing this post from the middle of a Sinai desert sandstorm, and with the evening call to prayer reminding us that its only an hour until the champions league semi final kicks off.
Gloucester's strength in depth this season is vindicated by the addition of Benny Howell from obscurity to batting at 3. Now Benny did plunder a 2nd XI double hundred last week, but has only one first class appearance to his name, a credible 70 odd last season for Hampshire. Frankly we are most concerned about the fact that his name is Benny (apparently he was born in France, so let's pretend its Benny in a french accent). According to the club website Benny will bat at 3 against Kent. Full marks to O'Mish (a former test number 3) for stepping up and at least allowing Benny to ease himself in.
Typical the Glos website doesn't have any other team news for us. Just that Benny will replace 'the house', who has a shoulder problem. We'll just presume its the same team except for this one change. It will be interesting to see whether we keep faith with tearaway boundary pepperer, James Fuller, after his round the houses performance last week.
This is Glos' 3rd straight away game, and they come up against a Kent team who have started the season well. A 'winning' draw against Yorkshire, and a thumping of Northants. The addition of veteran Gloucester basher Michael Powell adds steel to the middle order, and young pace man Matt Coles bringing jest to their bowling. That said, we did beat them home and away last season, so lets home for more of the same and the boys can finally head home with two wins under their belts.
Finally, can we please repeat our plea for poor Richard Coughtie to be relieved of the opening slot and Ian Cockbain given a crack. Unless King John is intending for gym instructor Kane Williamson to open when he finally frees himself from his Pilates classes then we see no point in continuing with Coughtrie at the top of the order.
Right, the Jessop Tavern View is off to the Cleopatra coffee shop for a Nescafe and some manic Bedouins cheering for Barcelona.
A pair of long-suffering Gloucestershire County Cricket club fans attempt to put the world (and the Glos administration) to rights. Themes include: Is one England ODI a year a good model for financial success and ground redevelopments, whether a batting average of 35 in Division 2 of the County Championship is acceptable and why Glos continue to be rubbish.
Showing posts with label Kent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kent. Show all posts
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Thursday, 16 June 2011
When do the championship games start again?
T20: Gloucestershire 166 v Kent 167 - 2.
Gloucestershire's lack of strike bowling in this format of the game was yet again exposed last night as Kent made chasing 167 look incredibly easy thanks to the efforts of Azhar Mahmood, who is still only 36, despite the fact that the Jessop Tavern View is old enough to remember him as a Pakistani veteran in the mid 1990's!
166 was no where near the imposing total it should have been as the boys reached 121 for 2, with solid contributions from the entire top order. 5 wickets in 7 balls from occasional baseball pitcher Wahab Riaz turned the game Kent's way, and Mahmood's explosive hundred saw them hope comfortably.
That's about all there is to say.
We'll admit that, here at the Jessop Tavern View, we are finding it hard to be motivated by the T20. Naturally the situation is not exactly helped by how crap we are, but we are crap in pretty much all formats of the game so this is hardly a novel experience for a Gloucestershire fan. It is mainly that such a shortened format of the game takes away the intrigue; the painstaking analysis of why people are shit. It provides players with what must be a welcome respite from criticism. Why did Gloucestershire crumble from 121 for 2 to 166 all out? Well, they were chasing quick runs at the end of the innings. Sometimes the wild slogging and suicidal running comes off. Sometimes it doesn't. There is not a lot else to write about. Why did Kent only lose 2 wickets? Well, two guys had their eye in and today was there day. On another day it would have been different. We know that there is more than this to good quality T20 cricket. It's just that often it is hard to be bothered to analyse things to deeply.
The boys have one more T20 game before the bizarre return of the championship, for one game, on Sunday. Can anybody out there explain why there is a single round of championship fixtures in the middle of the T20 competition. Is it deliberately aimed at confusing fans? Why oh why could this round not just wait until the T20 has finished?
Gloucestershire's lack of strike bowling in this format of the game was yet again exposed last night as Kent made chasing 167 look incredibly easy thanks to the efforts of Azhar Mahmood, who is still only 36, despite the fact that the Jessop Tavern View is old enough to remember him as a Pakistani veteran in the mid 1990's!
166 was no where near the imposing total it should have been as the boys reached 121 for 2, with solid contributions from the entire top order. 5 wickets in 7 balls from occasional baseball pitcher Wahab Riaz turned the game Kent's way, and Mahmood's explosive hundred saw them hope comfortably.
That's about all there is to say.
We'll admit that, here at the Jessop Tavern View, we are finding it hard to be motivated by the T20. Naturally the situation is not exactly helped by how crap we are, but we are crap in pretty much all formats of the game so this is hardly a novel experience for a Gloucestershire fan. It is mainly that such a shortened format of the game takes away the intrigue; the painstaking analysis of why people are shit. It provides players with what must be a welcome respite from criticism. Why did Gloucestershire crumble from 121 for 2 to 166 all out? Well, they were chasing quick runs at the end of the innings. Sometimes the wild slogging and suicidal running comes off. Sometimes it doesn't. There is not a lot else to write about. Why did Kent only lose 2 wickets? Well, two guys had their eye in and today was there day. On another day it would have been different. We know that there is more than this to good quality T20 cricket. It's just that often it is hard to be bothered to analyse things to deeply.
The boys have one more T20 game before the bizarre return of the championship, for one game, on Sunday. Can anybody out there explain why there is a single round of championship fixtures in the middle of the T20 competition. Is it deliberately aimed at confusing fans? Why oh why could this round not just wait until the T20 has finished?
Friday, 29 April 2011
A season's worth of wins in just three games. Surely promotion beckons?
Gloucestershire 206 and 292 beat Kent 208 and 245 by 45 runs
Gloucestershire wrapped up a good win over Kent today and now find themselves second in the table behind leaders Middlesex. A target of 291 was always going to be a stiff ask for a Kent side with two injured players, although both Robbie Joseph and Joe Denly did eventually bat. You know it is your day when the gentle medium pace of Hamish Marshall nets you two wickets for one run in his first two overs! His bowling was described by Alex Gidman as 'very handy when the ball is swinging' and it certainly never hurts when your opening batsman ambles up and removes two of their middle order for bugger all.
The only scare came when Azhar Mahmood put on 70 with Simon Cook, but Gidders the younger put an end to that partnership and cleaning up the rest of the tail to finish with 3-37. Jon Batty finished with 7 more catches to take his tally for the season to 17 in just 3 games. He might not be able to bat for toffee at the moment, but he certainly hoovers up the nicks, even without last year's seam attack to generate them.
This was a good away win for the boys. Even though Kent's batting was pretty woeful and they suffered from the injury to key batsman Denly, Gidman should take credit for the way we performed after getting a stuffing from Glamorgan in the previous Championship match. The bowling attack performed well throughout, with Saxelby taking wickets despite being expensive and David Payne adding some control to his wickets. Will Gidman managed to break some key partnerships and also showed some fight with the bat. At the moment he looks a good acquisition.
More good news come in the form of Kiwi starlet Kane Williamson, who finally arrived from New Zealand today after his visa processing saga came to a happy end. After his introductory shifts in the club gym tomorrow and Sunday, he is expected to make his debut against the Unicorns on Monday. We're looking forward to seeing how he gets on.
Gloucestershire wrapped up a good win over Kent today and now find themselves second in the table behind leaders Middlesex. A target of 291 was always going to be a stiff ask for a Kent side with two injured players, although both Robbie Joseph and Joe Denly did eventually bat. You know it is your day when the gentle medium pace of Hamish Marshall nets you two wickets for one run in his first two overs! His bowling was described by Alex Gidman as 'very handy when the ball is swinging' and it certainly never hurts when your opening batsman ambles up and removes two of their middle order for bugger all.
The only scare came when Azhar Mahmood put on 70 with Simon Cook, but Gidders the younger put an end to that partnership and cleaning up the rest of the tail to finish with 3-37. Jon Batty finished with 7 more catches to take his tally for the season to 17 in just 3 games. He might not be able to bat for toffee at the moment, but he certainly hoovers up the nicks, even without last year's seam attack to generate them.
This was a good away win for the boys. Even though Kent's batting was pretty woeful and they suffered from the injury to key batsman Denly, Gidman should take credit for the way we performed after getting a stuffing from Glamorgan in the previous Championship match. The bowling attack performed well throughout, with Saxelby taking wickets despite being expensive and David Payne adding some control to his wickets. Will Gidman managed to break some key partnerships and also showed some fight with the bat. At the moment he looks a good acquisition.
More good news come in the form of Kiwi starlet Kane Williamson, who finally arrived from New Zealand today after his visa processing saga came to a happy end. After his introductory shifts in the club gym tomorrow and Sunday, he is expected to make his debut against the Unicorns on Monday. We're looking forward to seeing how he gets on.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Solid Gloucestershire poised for victory over Kent
Kent 208 and 52 for 2 need 239 runs v Gloucestershire 206 and 292
Another good day's play has left Glos in a great position to win the match tomorrow. Kent needed to score 291 to win and at 52 for 2 with Joe Denly out of the match with a fractured thumb, the 'Shire would appear favourites unless it pours with rain or we suffer an implosion and bowl a load of dross. The dismissal of Sam Northeast, who took 10 off Jon Lewis' opening over, with the last ball of the day before the rain came was a big bonus. The pressure will be on the comedy backlift of Van Jaarsveld and 'old iron gloves' Geraint Jones in the morning with the ball still only 19 overs old.
We're not sure what to say about the Glos batting performance. It wasn't exactly a surprise to see us continue to lose wickets in clusters. Nor were we shocked to see Gidders make a start, then depart caught for 20, after a shot described by Cricinfo as an 'ugly smear' at Arsenal's Adam Ball. The club website led with the headline 'Saxelby shows his all-round qualities' which just goes to show that you can gloss over the lack of top order runs in a wide variety of ways. Will Gidman appears to have more appetite for sticking around than his brother, as he managed to bat for 79 balls for his 34. Perhaps we could swap them in the order if the skipper continues to throw his wicket away when basically set?
This kind of innings is fairly typical for the 'Shire and us hard-bitten supporters take a perverse pleasure in the boys making it harder then really necessary to get the win. It would almost be disappointing for us to rack up a huge total and then skittle the opposition for an easy win.
Roll on the second victory of the season!
Another good day's play has left Glos in a great position to win the match tomorrow. Kent needed to score 291 to win and at 52 for 2 with Joe Denly out of the match with a fractured thumb, the 'Shire would appear favourites unless it pours with rain or we suffer an implosion and bowl a load of dross. The dismissal of Sam Northeast, who took 10 off Jon Lewis' opening over, with the last ball of the day before the rain came was a big bonus. The pressure will be on the comedy backlift of Van Jaarsveld and 'old iron gloves' Geraint Jones in the morning with the ball still only 19 overs old.
We're not sure what to say about the Glos batting performance. It wasn't exactly a surprise to see us continue to lose wickets in clusters. Nor were we shocked to see Gidders make a start, then depart caught for 20, after a shot described by Cricinfo as an 'ugly smear' at Arsenal's Adam Ball. The club website led with the headline 'Saxelby shows his all-round qualities' which just goes to show that you can gloss over the lack of top order runs in a wide variety of ways. Will Gidman appears to have more appetite for sticking around than his brother, as he managed to bat for 79 balls for his 34. Perhaps we could swap them in the order if the skipper continues to throw his wicket away when basically set?
This kind of innings is fairly typical for the 'Shire and us hard-bitten supporters take a perverse pleasure in the boys making it harder then really necessary to get the win. It would almost be disappointing for us to rack up a huge total and then skittle the opposition for an easy win.
Roll on the second victory of the season!
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Encouraging lead for Glos after positive Day 2 performance
Day 2: Gloucestershire (292) and (40 for 1) lead Kent (208) by 124 runs
Is it over the top to say that we should win this match from here? A great day's cricket from Glos put the boys in a very strong position and in complete control of this match. A consistent bowling performance gave the 'Shire a first innings lead of 84, which was extended to 124 for the loss of Ian Cockbain by the close of play. It was good to see youngster David Payne rein in the four balls enough to take 3-55 at an economy rate of 3.43. Glos benefited from Joe Denly's fractured thumb, but compensated by allowing debutant Adam Ball, an aptly-named former Arsenal trainee, to score 46. As a graduate from the Arsene Wenger school, it was not recorded whether he greeted his dismissal with a violent kick to a nearby water bottle before remarking that he did not see the incident in question.
We were again provided with rich entertainment by the Times' rolling county cricket updates (paywall), which featured a gem from Mark Baldwin. He compared the picturesque scenes at Lords to those 'at Canterbury, where Ivo Tennant is clearly close to writing a very strong letter to The Times about the state of Kent's re-development of the historic St Lawrence Ground'. Great stuff and indicative of the dark mood in the Canterbury press box, where the malfunctioning scoreboards caused further annoyance to the assembled hacks.
Our friends over at Glos la la la think 250 in our second innings will be enough to win the match. We are far more pessimistic and would like to make them chase at least 400. Either way, the 'Shire are in the driving seat in this match. A thumping victory would be most enjoyable.
Is it over the top to say that we should win this match from here? A great day's cricket from Glos put the boys in a very strong position and in complete control of this match. A consistent bowling performance gave the 'Shire a first innings lead of 84, which was extended to 124 for the loss of Ian Cockbain by the close of play. It was good to see youngster David Payne rein in the four balls enough to take 3-55 at an economy rate of 3.43. Glos benefited from Joe Denly's fractured thumb, but compensated by allowing debutant Adam Ball, an aptly-named former Arsenal trainee, to score 46. As a graduate from the Arsene Wenger school, it was not recorded whether he greeted his dismissal with a violent kick to a nearby water bottle before remarking that he did not see the incident in question.
We were again provided with rich entertainment by the Times' rolling county cricket updates (paywall), which featured a gem from Mark Baldwin. He compared the picturesque scenes at Lords to those 'at Canterbury, where Ivo Tennant is clearly close to writing a very strong letter to The Times about the state of Kent's re-development of the historic St Lawrence Ground'. Great stuff and indicative of the dark mood in the Canterbury press box, where the malfunctioning scoreboards caused further annoyance to the assembled hacks.
Our friends over at Glos la la la think 250 in our second innings will be enough to win the match. We are far more pessimistic and would like to make them chase at least 400. Either way, the 'Shire are in the driving seat in this match. A thumping victory would be most enjoyable.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Honours even after late wickets spoil good start for Glos
Gloucestershire 292-9 v Kent
Gloucestershire spoiled a promising start by losing 9 wickets in the last two sessions, having seen a rare century opening partnership to begin the day. We were delighted to find that the Times, despite living behind a paywall, had sent a correspondent to Canterbury and spent the day enjoying their updates from the ground. Their man focused on the terrible state of the famous St Lawrence ground as the county attempt to redevelop, despite barely having a pot to piss in. They certainly don't have the pots of cash generated by the mighty Nevil Road gym to fund expensive Twenty20 signings like Murali.
We preferred to focus on how Hamish Marshall was performing on his Championship return from an epic wedding-fest in New Zealand. Having predicted a breezy 40 in our last post, we were delighted to see him move past that score and progress to a fluent 72. Less pleasing was his usual dismissal when well set, LBW playing slightly across the line to an Azhar Mahmood delivery. By this point Azhar had also removed Ian Cockbain for 34 and bowled Richard Coughtrie for a duck as he tried to leave the ball. Chris 'the Child' Taylor also managed a 50, scoring 71 before failing to see out the day after being bowled by Cook with the second ball of a new spell. The Gidman brothers failed, along with Jon Batty and we were again indebted to budding all rounder Jon Lewis who again batted in bucolic fashion for 26 before being caught behind off Cook. Ian Saxelby also batted well for 28, although we don't really want to see such a reliance on the lower middle order to shore up the innings after more recognised batsmen have disappointed.
It sounded a fairly grinding day's play, with both the slow rate of scoring and the builder's tools making a contribution. It would be nice to sneak above 300 tomorrow, but more important will be for the seam attack to make early inroads. We're not as disappointed as the reliably negative Glos la la la blog, but a better effort is needed tomorrow.
Gloucestershire spoiled a promising start by losing 9 wickets in the last two sessions, having seen a rare century opening partnership to begin the day. We were delighted to find that the Times, despite living behind a paywall, had sent a correspondent to Canterbury and spent the day enjoying their updates from the ground. Their man focused on the terrible state of the famous St Lawrence ground as the county attempt to redevelop, despite barely having a pot to piss in. They certainly don't have the pots of cash generated by the mighty Nevil Road gym to fund expensive Twenty20 signings like Murali.
We preferred to focus on how Hamish Marshall was performing on his Championship return from an epic wedding-fest in New Zealand. Having predicted a breezy 40 in our last post, we were delighted to see him move past that score and progress to a fluent 72. Less pleasing was his usual dismissal when well set, LBW playing slightly across the line to an Azhar Mahmood delivery. By this point Azhar had also removed Ian Cockbain for 34 and bowled Richard Coughtrie for a duck as he tried to leave the ball. Chris 'the Child' Taylor also managed a 50, scoring 71 before failing to see out the day after being bowled by Cook with the second ball of a new spell. The Gidman brothers failed, along with Jon Batty and we were again indebted to budding all rounder Jon Lewis who again batted in bucolic fashion for 26 before being caught behind off Cook. Ian Saxelby also batted well for 28, although we don't really want to see such a reliance on the lower middle order to shore up the innings after more recognised batsmen have disappointed.
It sounded a fairly grinding day's play, with both the slow rate of scoring and the builder's tools making a contribution. It would be nice to sneak above 300 tomorrow, but more important will be for the seam attack to make early inroads. We're not as disappointed as the reliably negative Glos la la la blog, but a better effort is needed tomorrow.
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