Sussex next to feel the t20 might of the Shire

We can already picture the panic down at Hove after Sussex's team of, relative, superstars were drawn against the mighty Gloucestershire t20 machine. Don't get too excited though. It's three weeks till the quarter finals actually take place.

Needing a win to stand any chance of qualifying for the first time since 2007 Gloucestershires biggest threat to victory came from the weather. But despite several showers, and pretty much persistent drizzle, not even God could prevent O'Mish leading the Gloucester circus act into what actually feels like a well earned quarter final.

Winning the toss Gloucestershire sensibly asked Northants to have a bat and openers Saxelby and 'sprayer' Fuller made the most of helpful conditions to basically seal the result with Northants left on 14 for 3 after 5 overs. In order to create a game, Northants folded their innings on 31 for 4 from 8.3 overs. Duckworth and Lewis then did the rest with a revised total of 23 from 5 overs. Northants then demonstrated that it will take more than firing David Capel as coach to make them a decent t20 side, conceding 7 extras in 2.2 overs as Glos romped home.

Gloucestershire thus finished second in the group. A decent effort considering that they had 4 matches with no result. Better than this, we actually look a half decent team! The Jessop Tavern View doesn't pay enough attention elsewhere to know whether any other counties have appointed a separate coach and captain for the t20 circus, but regardless, the appointment of Richard Dawson as t20 coach and O'Mish as captain seems like a very clever strategy. Listening to James Foster, the Essex captain, on Sky's coverage at the weekend he spoke of how draining it is to captain a side in this form of the game. Thus the appointment of a fresh captain and, presuming that similar demands are placed on the coaching staff, a fresh coach represents clever thinking on Gloucestershires behalf. Whether it's original thinking or not we're not too bothered.

Having moaned in a previous post about our lack of interest in the t20 competition the Jessop tavern view will admit that it took several bollockings off the girlfriend on Sunday afternoon for flicking between the tennis and the final round of games. Admittedly it helps when your team are in with a chance. It's unlikely that many Northants supporters placed their relationship under similar stress. Therefore this makes it even more of a shame that the rest of the competition is so ludicrously spread out. Why are the quarterfinals not being played this week, with the finals day this coming weekend? Still never mind. Hopefully the return to proper cricket over the next few weeks will confuse Sussex who only lost one match during the group stage. It'll be a tough ask for the boys to reach the finals.

Until then, here comes Cheltenham and the inevitable comedy collapses that happen at this time of year!

Catch-up

Gloucestershire v Middlesex: Match drawn.

In a crunch promotion battle Gloucestershire were perhaps a little bit negative in attempting to force victory. In the end the extra 50 runs added before the declaration looked like they could have been vital as Glos wobbled at 65 for 4 in their second innings. At the end of the day Gloucestershire will probably feel pretty pleased with their 11 points away to the second placed team in the division.

Kane Williamson finally got in the runs in the second innings. Greater contributions from our clearly talented overseas player will be vital if Gloucestershire are serious about promotion.

The bowlers again operated well as a unit and it was particularly interesting to see young Jack Taylor trusted with 29 tight overs. Does this mean that he has now jumped ahead of Ed Young in the spin bowling department? Considering that Young was only given a couple of overs in recent matches we would presume so.

Gloucestershire are now only 4 points behind Middlesex in the table. Our next matches are at the championship graveyard that is Cheltenham college. The boys will have to figure out how to win 4 day matches whilst at Cheltenham to maintain their promotion challenge.



t20 roundup.

We feel obliged to mention that we also beat Somerset and lost to Sussex in the t20. Frankly we have lost any interest in this competition. That said, we are encouraged to see the youngsters continuing to progress. Jack Taylor put in a match winning allround performance against Somerset which presumably has cemented his place ahead of Ed Young, and seen Vikram Banerjee begin sending his CV round the minor counties.

Against Sussex the boys just seemed to lack a dynamic match winner, the story of our t20 campaign so far. We haven't really disgraced ourselves in the competition, but we don't really have enough match winners in this format to realistically challenge. We hoped 'the butcher' might provide this, but remove his hundred against Middlesex and his contributions have been poor. Still, if the kids are learning from Murali, and from playing in the pressurised situation of t20 then its not been a complete waste of time.

We now need to win our remaining 5 games to qualify for the quarter finals. Don't hold your breath.

Sussex highlights here