Game on in Bristol after captains collude

Yorkshire forfeit and 30 for 1 need 370 more runs to beat Gloucestershire 351 for 9 dec (Williamson 111, Bresnan 5-81, Patterson 4-77) and 48 for 0 dec


Normally when you read a headline like the above in relation to cricket, people start getting twitchy and wondering whether the likes of Salman Butt are involved. However in this case it was merely some enterprising captaincy from Alex Gidman and Yorkshire's Andy Gale. Declaration bowling, an innings forfeiture and a 'contrived' run chase- it all happened at Nevil Road yesterday as Glos and Yorks tried desperately to set up a result on Day 4.

The match was previously meandering towards a draw with Gloucestershire 299-9, having suffered a trademark collapse of 5-9 from 290-4. Instead of pushing for the final wicket however, Gale brought himself on along with Adam Lyth and they fed a selection of tasty pies in the direction of Ian Saxelby and debutant Graeme McCarter. The numbers 10 and 11 added 52 in just over 3 overs, before declaring and taking tea. Yorkshire then forfeited their first innings, before Glos crawled to 48-0 from 28 overs before declaring for a second time, to set Yorkshire a victory target of 400 from a minimum of 110 overs. The Jessop Tavern View are fans of positive cricket in all circumstances and we say 'tough luck' to those Glos supporters at the game reported to have grumbled about the contrived circumstances. What would they rather see, another tedious Day 4 peter out into an inevitable draw, or the opportunity for all three results?

The enterprising 'conspiracy' between Gidman and Gale left Glos 14 overs to have a crack at the Yorkshire batting lineup and Will Gidman duly obliged by having Joe Sayers caught behind by Coughtrie. If captain Gidders hadn't grassed Lyth at slip and Phil Jaques' inside edge had carried onto his stumps then Yorkshire could have been in a world of trouble overnight. As things stand, they managed to reach 30 without further loss of wickets. Day 4 could provide an interesting day's cricket, as a powerful Yorkshire batting lineup, led by Jaques, face off against Glos' inexperienced seam attack who were denied the chance to bowl against Kent in similar circumstances a few weeks back. The Jessop Tavern View thinks Alex Winter's Cricinfo report is perhaps too harsh on young Ed Young's slow left armers. We're not saying he's the new Monty Panesar or anything, buts let's see what impact he can have tomorrow before we write him off completely, eh Snowy?

Video highlights of Day 3 below:

Preview: Gloucestershire v Yorkshire

Jason Gillespie's Yorkshire gypsies bring their caravans to Nevil Road for an intriguing division two match-up that will teach us much about exactly what sort of season Gloucestershire fans can expect. Perhaps Kaiser Tom, and the rest of the Gloucestershire board will encourage Dizzy to leave his caravan after the match in order to piss off the locals into granting us our block of flats.

A few weeks ago Gloucestershire's squad looked threadbare, after a couple of early season injuries to David Payne and Dan 'The House'. However, the arrival of Benny and the Pilates instructor means there is suddenly some competition for places in the batting order. The bowling unit is still struggling to find a consistent attack. Whilst the better Gidders and Ian Saxelby (with 17 and 13 wickets respectively) have been excellent, the rest of the attack has struggled to keep things tight. Fourballs Fuller misses today's match, as does David Payne. Young Irishman Graeme McCarter is brought into the squad after taking wickets on debut at Lords on Monday. The Jessop Tavern View hopes he is now thrown into the 4 day team straight away, ahead of the Corporal and Paul Muchall.

Last week against Derby, Glos went into the game with four full time bowlers, and Will Gidman batting at 6. This weakened batting yielded one poor innings, and one excellent one. With the skipper sure to come back into the side it will be interesting to see how King John chooses to approach the match. Yorkshire's strength would appear to be in their international bowling attack, thus retaining all the batsmen and adding the skipper at the expense of a bowler would seem to make sense. Yet again, Glos can thank their lucky stars for the emergence of Will Gidman, and the balance that his genuine allrounder status brings to the squad. Kane Williamson came in last week and looked like the class act he is. Any man who makes proper runs against the Saffers in the test arena should be helping himself in division 2. Can O'Mish continue to claw his way back into form? Can Benny continue his fine start to his Gloucestershire career? Can Dent and Cockbain build on encouraging starts to their seasons and go on to threaten the 1000 run mark? It's still too early in the year for the skipper to be scoring runs.

Yorkshire will be without the services of Aussie quick Mitchell Starc, after he buggered up his visa. Clearly he should have said he was coming to teach Pilates. He now has to fly back to Oz to fill in the necessary forms (check out cricinfo's amusing step into the world of comedy picture captions). Yorkshire will still field an experienced international attack, with the likes of Sidebottom, Bresnan and Rashid all due to play. Yorkshires batting will also be depleted, with England Lions youngsters Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow both away to warm up the Windies. Whilst Yorkshire might not be at full strength, they still represent a considerable challenge. Glos have some how managed to play a game more than everyone else in division 2, and due to the rain, the table is currently very bunched. Thus, despite it being only early May, this is already a big game for Glos.