The promotion bandwagon is up and running

Gloucestershire 110 (Roderick 51, Stevens 3-19) and 108 for 5 (Howell 52*) beat Kent 64 (Taylor 4-20, Miles 3-11) and 153 (Bell-Drummond 61, Higgins 5-22) by five wickets
Scorecard

Crucial fifties from former skipper Gareth Roderick and newly-minted opener Benny Howell, saw Gloucestershire defeat Kent in a low-scoring game completed in under three days, despite the loss of day 1 to a wet outfield following heavy rain.

This was a wild game, with many crazy statistics, including Glos winning despite not scoring over 110 in either innings, only three individual scores above 50 and 17(!) LBWs from 35 wickets, all in under 3 full days of cricket.

Day 1 at Canterbury was lost to a wet outfield and Gloucestershire were always likely to bowl first, given the overhead conditions. A four man attack without Liam Norwell, who was rested after a pre-season injury, meant debutant Ryan Higgins provided seam backup to Worrall, Miles and Matt Taylor. We also had Benny and Gourmet-Burger in reserve, although as events transpired they were in selected the team as batsmen only.

Glos ripped into Kent in favourable bowling conditions on Day 2, reducing them to 29-6 on the way to 64 all out. Matt Taylor showed why the shire's seam attack is potentially one of the division's best, removing Bell-Drummond, captain Joe Denly, the dangerous Stevens and former Jessop Tavern favourite Will Gidman on the way to 4-20, He was ably supported by Miles with 3-11 as Kent were skittled in 18.5 overs.

By the close of play, the match was halfway done, with Glos handily ahead at 110-8. Despite numerous low scores, largely brought about by the seamer-friendly conditions, Glos managed to close with a lead of 46, thanks to a gritty half century from keeper Roderick. This was the knock of the match, a fact acknowledged by coach Richard Dawson who rated it worth a hundred in any other game.

Day Three began in familiar fashion, with Glos dismissed in the first over of the day without adding to our overnight total. This left u with some work to do, as batting conditions improved somewhat on Sunday morning and the dangerous Bell-Drummond got going. He struck 10 fours and a six in a rapid 61 as Kent moved ahead of Glos for the loss of Dixon. Joe Denly arrived and looked to have been caught for a golden by KNB, but refused to walk and was reprieved by the umpire. The crucial moment of the innings was yet another LBW, as Higgins snared a well-set Bell-Drummond bang in front with the score on 75 and the lead just 29.

Kent slipped to 89-5, before recovering at the hands of Gidman, who put on 43 with Rouse before nicking off to Roderick for Miles' solitary wicket of the innings. Higgins showed real potential with the ball, nipping it around at a handy pace to take his maiden first class five-fer as Kent were dismissed for 153.

This left us 108 to win and with conditions still tricky, new skipper Dent was castled by a jaffa from Kiwi Matt Henry bringing Roderick in again with over a hundred still required. The two saw us through to an early close due to bad light at 61-1.

This left a nervous Monday morning for those sitting in the office listening on the BBC. We questioned Benny's move to opener in our season preview last week, but were delighted to see the Frenchman score a crucial fifty of his own as Glos won by 5 wickets. Benny's positivity, hitting 9 boundaries and facing only 90 balls, was a welcome counterpoint to the uncertainty shown at the other end, with 4 wickets falling in knocking off the 47 runs needed. Jack Taylor's second poor dismissal of the match, leaving a straight one from the wily Stevens to be plumb LBW was a bit concerning, given that the vice-captain's runs will be needed given he's set to bat at in the top 6 this season.

So, what does this all mean, ahead of tomorrow's home opener versus Glamorgan? Clearly the boys have a quality seam bowling attack, as evidenced by bowling Kent out cheaply twice, despite being without last year's leading wicket-taker Liam Norwell. Taylor bowled well on D1 and Worrall is clearly going to be a factor in Division 2, having taken 4-55 on his Shire debut. Higgins was a pleasant surprise and if he can function as a 4th or 5th seamer alongside the established attack then we could have a really handy attack this year.

The batting remains a bit of a concern. We said on Twitter that a lot of the dismissals in the first innings were down to playing across the line or missing straight deliveries. We may have been a bit harsh, as listening to 'Pasty' during his BBC commentary stint, he claimed most of the LBWs were due to late movement rather than poor choice of shot, aside from Roderick who admitted he made a mistake in the first innings. We'll give the boys the benefit of the doubt for this one, but with an equally handy Glamorgan pace attack rolling into Bristol tomorrow, we will need to see improvements if the Shire are to continue their momentum into the first home game of the year.

Still, a first win in the opening game of the season since the heady days of 2011 is not to be sniffed at. Let's hope that another good performance can help the Jessop Tavern View recapture some of the heady optimism of 2011, our first season blogging here. We can't promise you 25 posts in April like our first year of blogging, but more wins like this will certainly inspire us to fire up the laptops more often!

Something in the water as Glos wrap up consecutive away wins

Gloucestershire 388 (Dent 116, Marshall 58, Tavare 53, Jarvis 4-121) and 275 for 9 dec (Marshall 92, Handscomb 76, Siddle 4-39) beat Lancashire 364 (Horton 168, Norwell 4-95) and 208 (Petersen 63, Davies 58, Miles 4-58) by 91 runs
Scorecard

Away Championship wins are a rare treat for Gloucestershire fans. Back-to-back away wins are rarer than rocking horse dung and has the Jessop Tavern View pondering where this rich vein of championship form has come from. The easiest conclusion was to look to the impact of assistant coach Ian Harvey. Harv was legendary for his refuelling exploits (who can forget the time when Craig Spearman had to act as his driver after a drink-driving ban) and the Tavern wholeheartedly approves of any oversight he may have had on the team's hydration regime.

This being 2015 of course, we suspect Harv's impact may simply consisted of adding a different sachet to the latest energy drink swilled by the bowlers between overs. Whatever it was, it has worked an absolute treat as the boys romped to a convincing victory over league leaders Lancashire.

The match went about as well as coach Richard Dawson could have hoped. Glos batted first and scored almost 400 on first innings, with Chris Dent again impressing with 116 and O'Mish and Tavarare ably supporting him with 50s. We then managed to bowl out Lancashire's high-powered batting lineup for a slim first innings lead of 24. Liam Norwell again excelled with 4-95, while Craig Miles managed 3-71 while maintaining an excellent economy rate of under 3 an over. This was fine bowling effort in an innings anchored by Paul Horton's 168.

Glos encountered a spot of bother in the second innings, falling to 76-3 with a lead of just 100, before Kiwi Irishman O'Mish and Aussie Brit Handscomb came together for a match-defining partnership of 134 which took the Shire to a handy lead of 230, before a final day collapse left Lancashire 300 to win in a minimum of 70 overs.

A superb start by the bowlers reduced Lancashire to 22-4, but we then had to deal with a couple of minor scares as Petersen and Alex Davies put on 100 for the 5th wickets before falling either side of tea. Lancashire managed some lusty blows off Tom Smith, who took some serious tap in the second innings (8-0-71-0!) to get the target under 100, but when Clark and Buck departed in quick succession it was only a matter of time. The wild scenes of celebration when Miles takes the final wicket in the video below shows how much this win meant to the boys.

A superb result and one which, amazingly, takes the Shire to second in the table after 4 matches heading into the first T20 games at the weekend. A home game against strugglers Kent follows on Monday. If the boys can continue the momentum from two excellent away wins, we could be in the dreamland of chasing promotion come mid-season.

Promotion, you say? Well, a blog named after a former drinking establishment at Nevil Road can hardly be criticised for ideas that could well be seen as having been conceived while under the influence of something a little stronger than one of Harv's energy drinks.

Match highlights below:

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

On declarations, rain forecasts and overdue first wins of the season

Gloucestershire 252 (Roderick 59, Riley 3-51) and 443 for 6 dec. (Marshall 118, Stevens 5-87) beat Kent 114 (W Gidman 4-14, Fuller 4-32) and 291 (Harmison 125) by 290 runs

The Jessop Tavern View is delighted to report that the boys wrapped up a deserved first LVCC victory of the season before lunch today at Bristol.

We were thinking of making some snide comments about being lucky that the 'delayed' declaration yesterday didn't lead to the match being affected by the forecast rain, as mentioned by quite a few folk on Twitter and the BBC radio commentary team yesterday. Upon giving it more thought, however, we've decided that Captain Klinger was just supremely confident that we would bowl them out in plenty of time, regardless of the potential for rain today.

There's a definitely a case to be made that, having witnessed Kent slump to 2/4 and 17-5 on Day 1, King John and the brains trust was simply well aware that Kent's batting line-up was pretty useless and unlikely to survive for more than a day, having been set such a huge target. On a fairly blameless pitch according to the players, we managed to score almost 450 in our second innings and yet Kent twice failed to top 300 in an innings, despite Ben Harmison's battling century (incidentally, his 3rd championship ton v the 'shire).

All in all, this was a bloody good performance from Glos, and as the skipper pointed out on the official site link above, a victory we had really earned after been denied by the weather against Glamorgan last month. You could also add that we were unlucky to lose to a trademark Graeme Smith 4th innings special v Surrey last week.There are a few negatives to flag up though. The first innings batting was under par, albeit somewhat obscured by the fairly pathetic effort from Kent. We suffered another tough break, as talented keeper-batsman Gareth (Matthew B)roderick re-broke the same finger which kept him out earlier in the year. We will be without him for 6 weeks and will miss both his runs and athletic keeping at a crucial time of the season.

The bowling cupboard is also pretty threadbare, with Payne and the Sax remaining unfit and Craig Miles still a couple of weeks away from a return.

It seems a shame to end on a moan, but a couple of old gripes continue to rile the Jessop Tavern View. The club is still not getting its communications strategy right. We've heard very little on Saxelby's injury status until a brief mention today and have been reduced to haranguing the @gloscricket Twitter feed for information, to little effect.

Also, the video highlights we try to post at the end of each day's play invariably come courtesy of the oppositions Youtube page or the ECB site. Glos seem unwilling to explain why they have yet to cough up to make access available to video footage from our matches. If almost all the other first class counties can do this, surely the least loyal fans can expect is for the county to update their YouTube page or the official site with match highlights which are available on a daily basis.

We are aware we aren't exactly flush with cash compared to the Surreys of this world. Getting your website updated with relevant news and actually interacting with the fans on Twitter and other social sites isn't rocket science, especially when the new Chief Exec comes from a marketing background.

Rant over. Good win. Let's build on it and actually hit some boundaries in Friday's t20 clash with fellow weaklings Middlesex.

Video highlights from the rest of the match:

Day 3

 

Day 4

T20 cricket- It's easy when you know how

Gloucestershire 99 for 0 (Dent 63*) beat Glamorgan 98 for 9 (Payne 3-17, Young 3-21) by 10 wickets


This half of the Jessop Tavern View hasn't seen Gloucestershire play live for quite a while now, so it was a rare treat to witness the boys play at at a sold-out Cheltenham yesterday. We have fond memories of endless summer days spent at the best festival outground watching former Glos legends like Matt 'Steamy' Windows and Shaun Young put county opposition to the sword under cloudless skies.

Yesterday was no different, as an efficient Gloucestershire performance saw off Glamorgan with the minimum of fuss. The only difference between Cheltenham festivals of yore was that we were playing T20 and the Jessop Tavern View was this time enjoying a cold beer to help stave off the heat of the merciless sun.

Glamorgan have previously been one of the season's best T20 outfits. We we feeling a little apprehensive when they won the toss and elected to bat on the usually batsman-friendly Cheltenham deck. 6 overs in and the the powerplay overs ended with Glamorgan teetering at a comic 31-5. Two or three top order batsmen perished to leading edges and veteran Murray Goodwin played a horrid walking slap straight to Christian at point. The pitched seemed slow and somewhat two-paced, but it was hard to tell whether it was good bowling and fielding or merely terrible batting which was more responsible.

Glamorgan did rebuild somewhat through useless former Glos overseas, Marcus North and Nick James. They put on 37, before North showed why even the hapless Aussies tourists won't be looking his way this summer, by reverse sweeping Young straight to the increasingly immobile figure of Gidders at backward point.

Glamorgan limped through the remainder of their 20 overs, capping the innings with a tame run out off the last ball to end of 98-9. That was pretty much game over, as Corporal Klinger and Chris Dent showed that the pitch held no demons by knocking off the runs with 7.1 overs to spare. Dent was particularly impressive in scoring 63* with shots all around the wicket. Having never seen Dent bat in the flesh, this was an opportunity to witness his full range of shots, albeit under minimal pressure against a deflated opposition. We were particularly impressed with his deft back cuts and nimble footwork against spin.

So, what to make of about the shortest and most comprehensive T20 victory we've ever witnessed? It's perhaps best to defer to this half of Jessop Tavern View's wife, who was enjoying her first ever game of cricket, despite 7 years living in Australia. Her verdict was along the lines of 'that wasn't as bad or as long as I had feared, I quite liked it.' She's now been officially adopted as a good luck charm and the aim is to 'encourage' her to attend many more matches in future, to help guarantee easy Glos victories. Watch this space to read how well that works out for us...

Corporal Klinger ton guides Glos to first LVCC victory

Gloucestershire (21 points) 280 (Taylor 61, Freckingham 4-69) and 191 for 1 (Klinger 103*, Dent 71) beat Leicestershire (5 points) 250 (Thakor 75, Howell 5-57) and 217 (W Gidman 4-39) by nine wickets

Day 3 Highlights:


Day 4 Highlights:


A first Championship ton from the skipper, Corporal 'Michael' Klinger secured a convincing first win of the season for the 'shire at Grace Road. The Jessop Tavern View has thus far been critical of Klinger's batting, so it was pleasing to see him hit back with a first ton for the county, while guiding us to a comfortable victory against Leicestershire. At the start of Day 4, a potentially tricky task awaited, with 172 still needed and the ball new and hard. Klinger and Chris Dent negotiated the opening half hour safely, then pushed on as the ball softened to post a solid opening partnership of 129, which broke the back of the chase. Dent struck a pleasing and needed 71 of his own, before being LBW to a Naik shooter with the last ball before lunch. The hard work was done by this point though, and Dan Housego helped usher the Corporal through the nervous 90s to complete his hundred with the winning boundary.

We can't help but be delighted with the win. Yes, Leicestershire look one of the weakest sides in the country, with a mediocre bowling attack even when Hoggard is fit, but you can only beat what's put in front of you. We're very encouraged by the fight we showed on Day 2, when staring down the barrel of a first innings deficit. We're also pleased that we showed some cutting edge with the ball when restricting Leics to just 217 in their second innings, thus setting up a very 'gettable' victory target. Klinger is obviously a decent player and we are expecting more runs from him, ideally in the first innings of future matches!

Who would have thought it? Not us...

Gloucestershire (22 pts) beat Hampshire (3) by 33 runs

Bloody hell, we weren't expecting that! As the Times' Ivo Tennant so aptly put it in his match report (paywall), 'A match that before the start appeared quite likely to be over in two days, given Gloucestershire’s form and resources, and the fact that this pitch was one for the seamers, continued until there were just 12 balls remaining.'

This is a particularly encouraging win for the boys for a couple of reasons. One, it shows that a youthful seam attack, shorn in recent years of Lewis, Kirby, Gemaal Hussain and Anthony Ireland (ok, we're kidding on that last one), can still hold its own and bowl sides out. Two, the victory emphasises that morale remained high despite a crushing loss against Essex last week and that out young players don't give up without a fight. Glos had Hampshire 72-6, then witnessed a gritty fightback to take them to 190-7, before eventually finishing them off with just two overs left showed persistence, confidence and by the sound of it, some great slip catching from the boys.

Star performers included Chris Dent, who snaffled 5 catches to go with his first innings hundred, Will Gidman took 9 wickets in the match, including two crucial wickets in the 75th over as well as some valuable runs. Credit should also go to fellow seamers Ian Saxelby and David Payne, both of who chipped in with 3 wickets in the second innings while bowling economically.

So, after two Championship games, we are third in the table with 25 points. Not bad considering the pumping we took from Essex and the doubts raised on these pages about whether we had enough quality and resilience to succeed this season. We are delighted to be proved wrong. Roll on Kent on Thursday, a third consecutive away game before the home season begins against Glamorgan on April 26th.

Day 4 highlights from the ECB website below:

http://www.ecbtv.co.uk/video/20120415/hampshire-v-gloucestershire-day-4-gidman-strikes-in-win_2276246_2736378

Bring on the declaration

Day 2: Gloucestershire 402 - 7 v Middlesex.

Only 10 overs of play were possible today which could possibly be to Gloucestershire's advantage. It certainly means we can't lose from here, although if this were last year's team then defeat would still be very much on the cards.

With maximum batting points secured we are surely set up for an overnight declaration and then hope that the rain and humidity helps the ball to move all over the place. With 400 on the board it's not inconceivable that the boys could roll Middlesex over twice if the pitch does become nice and juicy.

Christ, what has happened to us. We are finally starting to have a positive outlook on what the boys are capable of us. Time for a lie down.

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.

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!