Cider final revisited

YB40: Gloucestershire 251 for 8 (Klinger 87, Marshall 55) beat Glamorgan 247 for 7 (Rees 83, Goodwin 49) by two wickets

The bandwagon is still rolling on its merry way to a Lords final. Admittedly it's a very Gloucestershire bandwagon, and with our present financial constraints the wheels are wobbling and it could do with a lick of paint. But rolling it still is.

Despite Gloucestershire's young bowlers continuing to go to all parts of every one day ground they play at, Captain Klinger remains unruffled as he helped himself to a further 87 runs. This takes Klinger's YB40 tally to 662 runs at a barely credible average of 94.

Gloucestershire tried their best to throw it away after openers Klinger and Marshall cantered to a century opening stand. It took some late biffing from Benny and James Fuller to see Glos across the line with a ball to spare.

All this means that, despite a fluctuating couple of weeks of YB40 results, Glos are still very much in the hunt. With one match remaining we sit level on points with Somerset at the top of the group meaning that bank holiday Monday will see a shoot-out for a semi-final spot between Glos and the cider boys from down the road. Admittedly, Glamorgan can still throw a spanner in the works. The Welshmen are two points behind, but face Leicestershire on Wednesday night. A win for the Dragons will mean that 3 teams will share the top of Group C.

God alone knows what the permutations are from there. Northants are another team with the same number of points (all be it in Group A) and so they can still play a part in gaining the one 'runners-up' spot. Essentially though, should Glos beat Somerset then we should be in the semi finals regardless of other results.

Exciting times. Let's hope that the opening of the new pavilion on Monday week inspires the boys to greater heights than they managed in last week's mauling down at Taunton.

YB40 update

Yes, we've been lazy and haven't posted much recently, but in our defence, it's the summer and there hasn't been much positive one day news to report recently. Thursday night's defeat versus Middlesex has left us 4th in our group, meaning that today's game v Glamorgan has taken on 'all or nothing' status.

However, The Jessop Tavern View has worked long and hard to develop a reputation for pessimism when it comes to all things Gloucestershire. Even if we do snatch a win against the group-leading Dragons, the prospect of needing another win in our final group game versus a powerful Somerset side does rather fill us with dread.

The Middlesex game was a particular disappointment, as Glos failed to chase a modest 206 which owed everything to Dawid 'David' Malan's unbeaten hundred. Glos again failed offer much beyond skipper Klinger's 46 and a 19 run loss was pretty average having done the hard work in restricting a dangerous batting lineup including Eoin Morgan, Stirling and Joe Denly along with the in form Malan. Hamish Marshall has had a poor one day season (averaging 21 from 10 matches, no big surprise) and perished for a first ball duck to Steve Finn. No one else scored more than 40 and a small target proved beyond us.

The previous game was a bit more encouraging, as yet another quality knock of 89* from the skipper saw us easily overcome Leicestershire's 163 all out. Klinger has managed 250 more runs than the next best batsman, Chris Dent, so far this season and we have relied on him heavily at the top of he order.

He proved his class in the Somerset match with an unbeaten 131 out of 263, but the total was proven inadequate by a violent hundred from Kieswetter, along with rapid-fire knocks from Tres and Trego, as the cidermen chased down our score with 39 balls remaining.

For those masochists among you with time to spare, video highlights of the Middlesex and Somerset defeats are below:

 

Glos and Somerset continue to be on course for August showdown

YB40: Gloucestershire 229 for 6 (27 overs) v Yorkshire 193.

Gloucestershire continued their fine form in all formats of the game with a comprehensive all-round destruction of a young Yorkshire side in the YB40.

In a rain-reduced match of 27 overs a side Glos got good contributions from their top four to post a formidable 229 for 6. Captain Klinger gave us a taster of what we might enjoy in the t20 with a bombastic 45 from 30 balls, ably supported by opening partner Hamish O'Marshall with 27. With the platform laid it was left to Chris Dent to push home the advantage with a 40 ball 56. Ian Cockbain also demonstrated what horrific form he is in with a calculated 46 from 37 balls that included only three boundaries. Cockbain now averages a paltry 73 in the YB40 this season. Awful.

Chasing 9 an over was always going to be a tough ask and Gloucestershire bowled well as a unit to take regular wickets meaning that Yorkshire never really threatened to chase down victory.

Glos continue to be level on points with Somerset at the top of Group C, but with a game in hand. Sadly, with the tournament just beginning to get to the business end and the groups heating up nicely we now have to wait almost two months until we see Glos in action again in the YB40. We have no idea why this is. We presume it is to accommodate the t20 competition in July. Thankfully this is the last season that we will have to carp on about this ridiculous scheduling. The 50 over competition next year is set to take place in a block in July and August.

Gloucestershire fans can now start to look forward to a couple of tasty YB40 fixtures against Somerset in August (11th in Taunton and 26th in Bristol).

A couple of belting catches from Gareth Roderick below: