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!

2018 Season Preview - 1,000 runs anyone?

The Jessop Tavern is back! Blink and you may well miss us. The Jessop Tavern’s enthusiasm is quickly drained and a recent recap of our blogging history indicates that we are very much fair weather bloggers. The Shire’s success each year is very much monitored in when our last post was for that season. In 2017 it was May. Enough said.

So what can Gloucestershire fans expect in 2018? Wisden reckon we are set for an 8th place finish in the championship and a quarter final appearance in the T20 Blast. What they reckon the odds are for Alfred the Gorilla making it a hat-trick of finals day mascot race wins is unknown. Would that be success for Glos? Clearly it isn’t too much to aspire to, but then what should Gloucestershire’s aim be for this season? We’d settle for being competitive in the championship until September, with an entertaining cup run in either the T20 or 50 over competition. With Bristol missing out on one of the forthcoming franchises for the new T20 competition cricket in the west country will face uncertain times. An inspiring 2018 campaign would go some way to looking to the future with more hope.

Batting
We will write this season preview in two parts, with the batting first. On paper, the batting looks thin. Very thin. No batsman in the squad passed 1,000 runs in 2017. For what feels like the better part of a decade Glos have recruited an overseas batsman to bolster the weakest part of their squad. Williamson, Klinger, Handscomb and Bancroft have all done this job, with varying degrees of success.

In 2018 coach Richard Dawson has gone for a bowling overseas player, Dan Worrall. What impact this has on the Shire’s ability to score enough runs remains to be seen. The boys shouldn’t have too much trouble taking 20 wickets. Worrall, Norwell, Miles and Payne look a handy attack if they can all be fit. Whether they spend the bulk of the summer grumbling about batsmen failing to do their job will be the critical aspect of the 2018 campaign.

Chris Dent (Career average: 38.07; 2017 average: 44.45 with 2 hundreds)
New club captain for 2018, Chris Dent has all the tools to be a plunderer of division 2 runs (as well as a fine one day player). Will the captaincy inspire him? Time will tell. It is hard to knock Dent’s output over the last 5 years. He has hit 1,000 runs in 3 of those 5 years and scored 11 hundreds. However, he failed to crack what should be an automatic thousand runs in a season in 2017 and his conversion rate of 2 hundreds for 10 times going past 50 is the real source of frustration for fans.

Dent has never been the main man in the Gloucestershire batting, mainly due to Klinger and others being present. In 2018 he will be the key wicket for teams, along with being a first-time captain. Its a big ask for Dent in 2018 and one he will need to be up to if Glos are to have an even semi-respectable season.

Benny Howell (Career average 28.29; 2017 average: 68.00 with 1 hundred in 2 matches)Is Benny the answer at the top of the order? We vaguely remember Benny arriving at the Shire in 2011 as this French opening batsman which prompted us to imagine a bloke who stood square-on the bowler and tried flicking all balls over his head to the boundary. Sadly this wasn’t the case, although Benny’s batting has been of the boundary hitting variety, usually some lower order biffing, and mainly in one day cricket.

Of course, Benny has turned himself into one of the county circuit's best one day bowlers, but opening the batting in the championship? At the end of the season Benny did hit a very fine 163 against Glamorgan. But is that enough to build a batting line-up around? This was only his second first-class hundred, and an average that has never gone above 30 in each of his 6 full seasons at the club means this is a risk to rely on his runs.

James Bracey (Career average: 41.41; 2017 average: 41.41 with one hundred in 9 matches)Is Bracey our new hero? The 20 year old left-handed keeper batsman appeared on the scene in 2017 and took to first-class cricket immediately. 3 fifties and a maiden hundred (in the same match that Benny scored his ton) is a solid return for a young man coming into the team. Whether building your batting lineup around an end of season performance against Glamorgan is a policy for success remains to be seen. However, Bracey is the future and let's hope he can push on and develop this year.

George Hankins (Career average 26.42; 2017: 26.23 with no hundreds in 12 matches)Hankins made his debut in 2016 and seemed to grow into that season with his maiden hundred coming at the tail end of that campaign. 2017 was, therefore, a disappointing ‘growing’ season for the 21 year old, with no hundreds and just the 4 fifties.

The Shire seemed determined to provide him with experience in all formats, although how much Hankins enjoyed his 7 T20 matches, where he scored 17 runs at an average of 5, is in doubt. It is hard to know which way he will develop as a cricketer in 2018. Glimpses of potential are well and good, but in a side that looks pretty thin in the batting department, it is hard to believe that this is the ideal environment in which to grow.

Graeme Van Buuren (Career average: 46.28; 2017 average: 22.33 with no hundreds in 8 matches)Arriving from South Africa on his pet hamster's passport in 2016, Van Buuren immediately looked a very handy pick-up. 2 hundreds in his 7 games in 2016 at an average of 45 seemed to herald a very useful middle order player. Injury then ravaged his 2017 campaign, so not too much should be read into last year's stats. So can Van Buuren bounce back? Along with captain Dent he represents the experienced heart of the batting, so he will need to find his best form early if Glos are to put up a fight.

Gareth Roderick (Career average: 38.79; 2017 average: 33.58 with no hundreds in 9 matches)Another South African import whose 2017 season was ruined by injury. Former club captain Roderick has struggled in recent seasons to back up the impressive start he made to his Gloucestershire career. 2 hundreds and an average of 44 in his debut season of 2013 was built upon by an average of 58 in 2014 before his season was ruined by injury. Since then Roderick has never averaged above 33, nor scored more than one hundred or gone over 800 runs. Again, more will be needed from a player with the ability to score runs at this level.

Jack Taylor (Career average: 32.89; 2017 average: 41.00 with 2 hundreds in 15 matches)Crowd favourite, and new vice-captain, Jack Taylor will have all of 2018 to focus on his batting after his season-long bowling suspension. Whether Taylor ever goes back to bowling will be interesting. That Steve Smith bloke seems to have done ok having ditched the lollypop spin bowling to focus on scoring runs with an unorthodox technique!

Where Glos choose to unleash Taylor’s unique batting talents will be a test of coach Dawson’s improvisation. The feeling that Taylor is better utilised as a match-changing lower order biffer is hard to refute, and he may find number 7 his ideal position. Whether that is too low for a guy in the team solely for his batting will be the question? Modern cricket is all about momentum and innovation, and using Taylor in this way will allow him to play his natural game that has brought great success over the last few years.

Will Tavare (Career average: 31.63; 2017 average: 31.29 with 2 hundreds in 11 matches)2017 was hardly a vintage year for Tavare, and the feeling exists that his place in the pecking order has gone to the likes of Bracey and Hankins. You suspect that Tavare will get his chance again and it will be up to him to take it. This is a man who in 2014 topped 1,000 runs with 4 hundreds. Even last year, which was hardly his best, he managed two hundreds, as many as Chris Dent.

Ian Cockbain (Career average: 30.15; 2017 average: 27.00 in just 1 match)
Jessop Tavern View favourite and T20 specialist Ian Cockbain will presumably be overlooked for the championship games and instead will be utilised as a one day specialist. His T20 epiphany in 2016 resulted in a more modest return in 2017 (252 runs at 25 in the T20 Blast) but in the 50 over game Cockbain was the only real bright point for Glos with his maiden one day century and an average of 59 across the 7 matches.

Kieran Noema-Barnett (Career average: 27.05; 2017 average: 22.38 with no hundreds in 11 matches, bowling: 23 wickets at 32.04)The gourmet burger should really be a Jessop Tavern favourite. A sort of Jackson Thompson cricketer. A Mike Gatting style of buffet eater who was sponsored by a gourmet burger restaurant, what’s not to like? Well, his figures for starters. No not his figure. And no, not those types of starters. 

We just struggle to see what he brings to a team. In 2017 we saw far more of Noema-Barnett with the ball in hand than is good for any side. We saw it as a sign of how much the Shire were struggling, and the same will bne the same in 2018. This said, there is still time for him to turn this around. Adopting the big man with big bat and big biffing would be the place to start. Less of the Jesse Ryder opening the bolwing sort of stuff, and more of the Jesse Ryder in nightclub toilets would be the other way to go.

Ryan Higgins (Career average: 24.71 in 5 matches; 2017 average: 18.42. Bowling; 12 career wickets at 23.41)It’s hard to know anything at all about this winter’s 'big' signing. The Zimbabwe-born man signed from Middlesex and has such a limited first-class record that it's hard to try and make sense of what Glos fans might expect from him.

Super Cockbain and Benny salvage the Shire's one day campaign

Glamorgan 277-7 (Liddle 2-51, Howell 2-54) beat Glos 232 -8 (Klinger 78, Van Buuren 51, J Taylor 51) by 18 runs on D/L

Glos 257 - 5 (Cockbain 108*, Howell 86*) beat Middlesex 256 - 9 (Norwell 5-36) by 5 wickets.

This season the Royal London One Day Cup has very sensibly been allocated a 3 week block in which to play through the entire group stage. Players will have the opportunity to concentrate on one set of skills and fans will have a chance to engage in the competition without constantly switching back and forth to championship and T20 matches.

It's hardly the work of scheduling genius, but given this is the ECB we are talking about we shouldn't be surprised that such a move has taken over 50 years to be put in place. (If one day cricket has ever been allocated 'blocks of time' in the championship schedule then we are happy to be corrected here - potentially the RLODC now resembles the old Benson & Hedges? But we are pretty sure that old tournament still used to fit in around 4 day cricket).

The structure of the one day cup has had the flaw for a number of years that a couple of early defeats essentially end your interest in the competition before it is even up and running. With only 3 teams from each 9 team group progressing the need to get off to a winning start is imperative.

On Sunday afternoon Glos sat poised on the precipice. Ian Cockbain was joined at the crease in the 22 over by Benny Howell and both men stared up at the scoreboard, passed the rows of empty seats, and took deep breaths. 65 for 5. Klinger, gone. The explosive Jack Taylor, gone. In Thursday's opening match loss to Glamorgan Cockbain had made a 5 ball duck. Benny faced only 8 balls for his 4 runs. Neither man had played a championship match. Both new that another loss would pretty much spell the end of the Shire's involvement in the competition. It was a time for heroes. And in the spirit of true heroes of the Jessop Tavern, they delivered.

Our love of Cockbain has already been discussed. It defies logic. His hundred yesterday was his first white ball hundred. He's supposedly a white ball specialist. No logic. Our love for Benny is more born out of fear. His open tirade against us on Twitter a few years ago still hurts. Since then he has become the country's most-feared T20 bowler. We like to think we played a small part in this rise. We love him for this. And the fact he is French. Not enough French cricketers.

Looking back over the first two games the situation probably should be even better for Glos. Despite losing early wickets in pursuit of Glamorgan's 277, captain Klinger and Van Buuren rebuilt and then were casually accelerating towards their total when the rain and bad light came. By the time they resumed and D/L had got involved the game had changed. Both Klinger and Van Buuren fell straight after the resumption and this essentially ended Gloucestershire's chances, despite some lusty hitting from Jack Taylor at the death. Had the rain not intervened the game may have had a different complexion.

Heading to division 1's title winning team, and the home of cricket, wasn't the most straight forward assignment for a must-win match. Liam Norwell did his best, tearing in from the Pavilion end for 10 straight overs to take 5 for 36 and reduce Middlesex to 97 for 5. Although the home side recovered to 256, it was a total Klinger and Co would definitely have fancied. However, at 65 for 5 the game looked up but for the Jessop Tavern's heroes.

Cockbain in particular really has developed into a very fine, mature, one day cricketer with an astute one day brain. He very much mirrors a lot of what Michael Klinger does so well. He can play multiple types of innings and backs himself that if he bats for time he will have scored at the appropriate rate. This was noticeable in the T20 Blast last year where he finished as the third highest run scorer, and with an average above 50. He can be a blaster, but his game has many more parts than that now.

Glos will next travel to Essex and Hampshire later this week as their one day campaign picks up pace. This Glos team again looks well set up for one day success, although a few less top order slumps will be needed moving forward. Klinger continues where he has been for the last few years. A class apart at this level. If Cockbain and Dent can contribute in the middle order, then Benny and Jack Taylor's explosiveness should provide a match winning lower order twist.

The bowling is nicely balanced, although it would be nice to see Matt Taylor find his feet again. 0-74 was not a strong argument for him to being the man to oust Chris Liddle. Speaking of which, his 2 for 51 against Glamorgan was respectful enough, although he sat out the Middlesex win with a 'tweaked' muscle. Gloucestershire refused to comment on which 'muscle' it was.

Video highlights from the Middlesex game below:

Glos book themselves a home quarter final in the T20 Blast

T20 Blast: Glos beat Essex by 9 wickets.

Essex will beat a hasty retreat from Cheltenham after a weekend of being mauled by a young and hungry Gloucestershire team playing some fantastic cricket.

Another T20 match brought more runs for Maxy Klinger (again the competition's leading run scorer - 517 runs at 57). More runs for Ian Cockbain (the competitions second highest run scorer - 457 runs at 65). More wickets for Benny the bowler (the competition's leading wicket taker - 20 wickets at 15). And most importantly, this particular win brings a guaranteed home quarter final at the start of August.

Batting first Glos got away to a good start with O'Mish delivering 43 runs from 28 balls to set a platform for Maxy and Cockbain to go to work. The impressive thing about these two has not only been the consistency, but the composure and ease they have with their own games. We have witnessed this throughout Maxy's time with the Shire. He has absolutely confidence in his own game to just ease up through the gears and to press the accelerate when needed, and not before.

This influence has very clearly rubbed off on Ian Cockbain. Cockbain is a player who until this season clearly saw himself as a bit of a biffer. A guy who hit a long ball. This season he has been the complete number 3, playing a variety of different styles of innings depending on what the game called for. His evolution has been extremely impressive and the Jessop Tavern is delighted for a player they have long been fans of.

Posting their highest total of the season, 212 for 1, Gloucestershire's bowlers then squeezed the life out of the Essex reply, taking important wickets at the right time, and never allowing the Essex run chase to even get started. Matt Taylor continued his fine form with 2 for 25. Benny the bowler continued his economic wicket taking with 3 for 27, and that was about that.

Gloucestershire are now 4 points top of the group with only one game remaining and are assured of a home quarter final. The Jessop Tavern is already looking into travel to Edgbaston.

Video highlights:

O'Mish inspires impressive win against Sussex

The Tavern getting to know the locals

T20 Blast: Glos beat Sussex by 11 runs.

After the previous day's wash-out against Hampshire Glos travelled along the south coast to beautiful Arundel to take on flashy Sussex-by-the-sea.

As 6,000 people discovered that one entrance to a cricket ground isn't the greatest idea, the Jessop Tavern took the time to have a catch-up with Sid the Shark and discuss the game ahead. The pace of Tymal Mills versus the superhuman run scoring of Michael Klinger? Sid gave a giant thumbs up to the idea that Klinger would fancy Mills' extra pace.

Sussex won the toss and soon had the big breakthrough. Ajmal Shazad, came back from the unknown, to trap Maxy Klinger LBW in only the second over. It was Sussex's only success for the next 13 overs as O'Mish and Ian Cockbain put together a magnificent 120 partnership for the second wicket. It was magnificent in lots of ways, primarily for the fact that the pitch appeared to not be the easiest to get started on, and took every batsman a little while to get the boundaries flowing. 

O'Mish was imperious, and his 90 from 55 balls was an exhibition in clean, clinical T20 hitting. Not obviously destructive, but working the ball intelligently and knowing which balls were his to hit. Cockbain intelligently played second fiddle. Giving O'Mish as much strike as possible.

After both were out the Glos innings then stuttered as the boundaries dried up as the new men found it harder to get going. That is until Benny the batsman strode to the wicket. At this point the Shire were in danger of posting a total that would fall short of the 180-190 that looked necessary. Benny is not a man who worries too much about getting his eye in and he launched several towering sixes to make sure that Glos posted a competitive total.

The bowling unit were soon under the cosh as Luke Wright helped himself to some typically lusty leg side blows. Wright looked a million dollars for his 71 from 47 balls, and as wickets continued falling at the other end he very quickly became the key to victory for Sussex. Fortunately Wright has made a career of looking a million dollars in only very short patches and on 71 he again swung agriculturally and found Andrew Tye at cow-corner off Benny the bowler. After Wright departed Sussex never really looked like pulling off the chase.

So Glos now have 3 victories in a row and are joint top of the South group for the T20 Blast (technically second on net average) The most pleasing thing is that they are now fully revived from their one day cup-induced slump. The team looks well balanced. Graeme Van Buuren was brought in to add additional spin options. Matt Taylor and David Payne have become very intelligent one day bowlers. Andrew Tye looks a tidy overseas signing. Benny and Gournet-Burger have brought variety. All of the bowlers look like they know exactly what their role is in the side and these roles are very clearly matching up with their skill-sets. A lot of credit goes to the coaching staff.

There is still a lot of cricket left in this season, but Glos are well placed now to be competitive for the rest of the year.

Video highlights:

In praise of.....Benny the bowler

French cricketers. There aren't too many of them. That technique of standing square on to the bowler, feet glued together using a tennis racket to flick your little sister's underarm deliveries has never been an ideal breeding ground for high class county cricketers. Benny Howell is the exception.

In the T20 Blast Benny currently sits second in the bowling tables for wickets taken, with only Worcestershire's Joe Leach ahead of him. Benny has 12 wickets with an economy of 7 runs an over. That is really good. Leach in comparison has 14 wickets that cost 9 runs an over. Dale Steyn has 9 wickets that cost 6.5 runs an over. Michael Hogan has the same. Admittedly these last two have played a couple of games less than Benny.

Nor is this a fluke. In 2013 he took 10 wickets. In 2014, 15. In 2015 he struck out 17 batsmen. That is a year on year increase that has reflected his increasing importance to Gloucestershire's one day side. In none of those seasons has he ever gone for more than 7.25 runs an over. He has also scored some useful runs in the lower order. 

In last season's 50 Royal London one day cup Benny took 15 wickets at a strike rate of a wicket every 34 balls and an economy rate of just below 5 runs an over.

From being very much a bits-and-pieces cricketer, Benny has become a vital cog in the Gloucestershire attack and a man who has become trusted to always perform at the crucial point. He has managed this whilst trundling in off about 10 paces and rolling down deliveries at a very innocuous pace. A shrewd cricketing brain combined with a fine repertoire of slower balls and cutters has not only saved him from being savaged, but has proved that all types of bowlers can prosper in the T20 format.

Keep up the good work Benny, and feel free to tweet this post!!

Championship review: Glos on the rise after consecutive wins

Regular readers will know that much like our beloved 'Shire, the Jessop Tavern View typically begins to slow down and lose interest in the season around this time of year. Results have begun to slide, key players are injured or out of form and our early season enthusiasm seems misplaced. What to make of the current situation then, with the boys already qualified for a 50 over quarter final and three wins on the bounce in the Championship leaving us handily place for a promotion push?

The Glamorgan game was so remarkable that it gets its own post, but first here's a brief summary of the festival games at Cheltenham last month. First up were Northants, who were dismantled inside two days, after a brutal career-best knock from Jack Taylor.

Gloucestershire 372 (Taylor 156*, Stone 4-91, Kleinveldt 4-129) and 38 for 1 beat Northamptonshire 246 (Wakely 104, Norwell 6-41) and 160 (Levi 64, Miles 5-28) by 9 wickets
Scorecard

This game was crazy: 4 innings inside 2 days and an easy Glos victory completed from the unpromising position of 108-6 on first innings. On Day 1 Liam Norwell took an excellent 6-41 as we bowled Northants out for 246. Glos then reached 82-4 by the close, before losing two cheap wickets to leave us well behind. Then Taylor game in and turned the game on its head, with stands of 113 with Howell and 104 with Miles on the way to a career-best 156* from just 125 balls. The last 4 wickets put on 264, a magnificent effort in the circumstances.

Then Miles got to work with the ball as well, ripping through the fragile top order alongside Fuller, to leave them 18-4. The whole seam attack contributed as Northants were skittled for 160, with Miles starring with 5-28 and only Levi (67) and Kleinvedlt (37) topping 20.


This left us 35 to win before the close of the second day and we knocked them off for the loss of just Dent. 23 points and our third Championship win of the season in remarkable circumstances.

Video highlights of the carnage below:

Day 1

Day 2

Gloucestershire 218 (Roderick 61, McKay 5-59) and 321 (Howell 102, Noema-Barnett 61, Klinger 60, Shreck 5-82) beat Leicestershire 215 (Cosgrove 74, Fuller 4-35) and 169 (Miles 3-27) by 155 runs
Scorecard

The Cheltenham festival concluded with another convincing  20 point win over bottom feeders Leicestershire. This was a more normal match, albeit one marked by a decisive 3rd innings partnership between hitherto run-shy pair Benny the Frenchman and Kieran Gourmet-Burger.

The pair put on a crucial 139 for the 5th wicket, comfortably the highest of the match, as Glos recovered from a disappointing first innings batting performance to post 321 on second innings and set the visitors 325 to win. Howell struck his maiden first class century (and first 4 day score over 50 this season) and the Kiwi hit 61, also his first 50 for the 'Shire before falling to Charlie Shreck. Michael Klinger continued his profitable run of form with 60 as injured skipper Cockbain 'runs' were barely missed.

The target was always likely to be too many for a poor Leicestershire side and so it proved once Miles dispatched Angus Robson and Ned Eckersley from consecutive deliveries and with just 20 on the board. The rest of the way was a team effort, with Fuller's 4-35 the pick and even the mighty Kiwi accounting for Matt Boyce. The win was completed just before tea on the final day, when Norwell got into the act by having Clint McKay caught behind to send Leics to their 8th loss of the season.

Video highlights below:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Welcome back Craig Miles

Day 1: Worcestershire 299 - 7 v Gloucestershire.

Ah, Cheltenham. The Jessop Tavern View went away for a while, gorging itself on summer football. When we came back we rocked up at Cheltenham last week and stared with disbelief as Benny Howell was handed the new ball. Injuries have ravaged the Gloucestershire bowling unit this season but surely Benny Howell should never be opening the bowling. Where is Ben Gannon when you need him?! Benny, typically, bowled all right, only for the batsmen to let everyone down by collapsing in the second innings and handing victory to Derbyshire.

Disappointing defeat to Surrey was followed by Chris Dent finally finding the middle of the bat against Essex that proved that t20 at Cheltenham is far more fun when it isn't played on sticky, sub-standard pitch.

The Jessop Tavern View turned up early on Sunday afternoon and sat nursing its pint of Tribute in front of the nets. Some gangly, young blond kid was doing some bowling in a Gloucester shirt. He looked remarkably like Craig Miles. The Jessop Tavern took its pint and went and found some shade, deciding that it had clearly had too much sun for one day.

Yet lo and behold, here we are today and we can finally comment on whether Miles had the ability to follow up his wicket-laden first season with more of the same. The answer appears to be yes. Typically a young bowler's second season is usually pretty trying. Teams have had the chance to look at the film and batsmen suddenly have plans of where to score against them. Miles cleverly decided to avoid this typical second season syndrome by being crocked for most of the season. Coming back today it is fair to say Worcestershire coach Steve Rhodes was probably regretting his decision to record over those tapes of Miles' bowling with Emmerdale omnibus'.

Miles tore through the Worcestershire top order to take 4 for 53 from 17 overs. Most importantly, he was able to walk off the field at the end of play. Tom Smith also decided to chip in with 3 wickets to leave this match very evenly poised after day 1.

Miles' return from injury has almost certainly come a month too late to salvage Gloucestershire's championship season. Still, it will provide King John and the board with more ammunition to talk ruefully about what could have been this season before then failing to invest in the squad over the winter.

--------------------

In a slightly more bizarre aside, Sunday's net session saw the Jessop Tavern witness 20 minutes of watching former Gloucestershire legend Ravi Bopara bat left handed. In fairness Ravi could still find the middle of the bat, and maybe he will prove us wrong by resurrecting his test career as the next David Gower. Still, it was a somewhat bizarre spectacle. With that sort of commitment to practice is it any wonder that Bopara remains a wasted talent.

Highlights from Day 1 are available via the official site here

Saved by the rain, pt 2

Gloucestershire 66 for 4 (8pts) drew with Derbyshire 278 (8pts)

It's not often that you finish a good versus Derbyshire thinking you've dodged a bullet. However, at 66-4 Glos were in a bit of trouble, having allowed the division's bottom side to recover from 153-6 to post a decent 278 all out.

There was never much prospect of a result in this match, with significant time lost to rain on 3 days and the final day a complete washout. It is also hard to draw conclusions from such a match, which leaves us 7th in Division 2, albeit just 7 points behind 3rd placed Essex. It was disappointing that we allowed a weak batting side to recover from a precarious position to post almost 300. This shows just how much we need our 1st choice bowling attack fit and firing in order to make progress.

We are badly missing some reliable backup to the ever-excellent Will Gidman (who limped around a bit during the Derby innings, per the BBC commentators), although Benny Howell did fill in admirably as 4th seamer in this instance. If you added Craig Miles, a fit David Payne to this attack, plus had a fully firing James Fuller (under par in this match) then you can foresee us bowling better sides than Derbyshire out cheaply. We are not including the unfortunate Ian Saxelby in this equation, as sadly we can't envisage him remaining fit for long enough to feature regularly at the moment.

Anyway, onwards and upwards to a t20 Blast match down at Canterbury tomorrow night. The weather forecast for the SE region has finally perked up a bit, so we could be in for an entertaining contest. Sadly, GO Jones is unable to feature against his parent club, but it should be an interesting contest nonetheless.

Video highlights from the match below:

Day 1

Day 2



Day 3

A long road ahead for England/the 'Shire

Gloucestershire 80 for 0 trail Kent 474 (Stevens 126, Harmison 106, Key 53) by 394 runs

Gloucestershire are facing something of a mountain to climb after two days of toil in the field at Canterbury. You know it's a flat deck when Ben Harmison gets a hundred against you and that's exactly what happened on Day 1. This was followed today by a ton for the ICC's favourite, Darren Stevens and some late order runs which boosted the Kent total to a healthy 474 all out.

Glos will be disappointed to have allowed such a bottom-heavy batting card, having reduced 2nd from bottom Kent to 46-3 and 113-4 on Day 1. The attack did ok, but the change seamers Payne and Norwell again went for more than 4 runs per over each, which considering they bowled 49 overs between them is a lot of runs to ship. What we find disappointing is that if 18 year old Craig Miles is capable of going for under 4 an over in his first full season, why are Norwell and Payne, both now beyond rookie status, not capable of 'bowling dry' as well?

It says a lot about the others that Benny Howell's military medium was required for 19 overs as well. Tom Smith managed only 7 overs for 15, which doesn't say much for either the pitch or Klinger's confidence in our latest spinner.

There were more positive signs when Glos batted, with Corporal Klinger and Chris Dent continuing their nascent opening partnership and taking us to 80 without loss at the close. A lot of batting is required to see us to safety and beyond and you would say that only two results are likely at this stage of the game, a draw or a Kent victory.

On the plus side, some time has already been lost to rain and the weather forecast isn't looking that promising for the next two days.

In many ways this game has mirrored the 5th Test at the Oval. Lose the toss and witness the opposition rack up almost 500, with hundreds from a perennial underachiever and a dasher with a unorthodox technique. Then face some tricky overs before the close on Day 2. the only difference is that the Aussies have Nathan Lyon whereas Kent only have James Tredwell. On second thoughts, these matches are identical!

Video Highlights from Day 2:

Gidders to the rescue

Day 2: Lancs 310 v Glos 143 -4.

An intriguing poised game continued to see-saw its way between the rain clouds and leave Glos with a fighting chance of still getting something from the match.

It was a day of contrasts as 39 year old Glenn Chapple bagged his 900th first class wicket and 18 year old Gloucestershire paceman Craig Miles took career best figures of 6 for 88. Even more impressive for Miles is the fact that this is the third match in a row in which he has taken career best figures, following up his 4 for 83 against Hampshire, and 6 for 99 against Worcestershire. Whilst these figures are clearly impressive for a young bowler, lets not forget that both Liam Norwell and David Payne took wickets when bursting on to the scene. Norwell and Payne both seemed to have regressed this season and it is to be hoped that Miles can continue to take wickets when teams more familiar with facing him.

After losing an hour to rain in the morning, Gloucestershire did everything that could be asked of them. 5 quick wickets left Lancashire reeling on 244 for 9 only for numbers 10 and 11 to put on 66 for the last wicket. In the context of this match that final wicket partnership could well turn out to be a decisive one. I guess we shouldn't blame Gloucester's young bowling attack too much, but having worked so hard to put themselves in a good position they did seem to throw it away too easily by spraying it around to the tail enders.

In reply Glos were very quickly in the mire. Captain Klingon became Chapples 900th victim, Dent lazily left a ball that thudded into his pads to chalk up yet another dismissal that speaks more about his lack of concentration than his lack of technique. The House slashed at a ball that was too close to his body to cut and O'Mish was strangled down the legside. At 66 for 4 at least we were thinking that Lancashire's final wicket partnership wasn't quite as key as we first thought.

But then cometh the hour, cometh the Gidders. Standing tall, and lumbering forward Gidders and Benny managed to steady the ship and set sail for an inevitable early morning collapse on day 3. We do pity the poor buggers who have to write summaries for all the county championship matches day in day out, but we think they were really stretching it when they whimsically muttered that it is easy to imagine how much Gidman could have achieved in the game were it not for injury. Whilst Gidders has always been susceptible to niggling little injuries, we can't think of any major periods when he was out of the side. The Jessop Tavern does have a slightly soft spot for Gidman mainly, we suspect, because he represents everything that we love about Gloucestershire. For the most part Gidman is maddeningly inconsistent, frequently getting himself in, then even more frequently getting himself out. Yet he always offers you those glimpses of talent. Those moments that make you think, maybe now he will kick on and dominate teams on a weekly basis. Gidman hasn't passed 1000 runs in a season since 2009. He has 2 hundreds since that same year. 2009 was also Gidman's first season as captain. Unfulfilled potential. Probably not. He's probably achieved everything we could realistically have expected.

Still, we are happy to re-write this if he makes a big ton today. And speaking of tons, whilst it's been nice to see Benny cementing himself at number 6 (and bizarrely becoming a handy bowler) it's about time he hit a first class hundred.

Michael Klinger: No runs, but good common sense

Day 4: Northants beat Gloucestershire by 7 wickets.

There were no miracles today as Northants predictably wrapped up victory just before lunch. Glos could add only 19 runs to their overnight score but did then manage to take 3 Northampton wickets which, if nothing else, will make the defeat look less comprehensive in Wisden next year.

Speaking after the match, captain Klinger said that Gloucestershire need to learn from Northants 'mature' brand of cricket. Fair point. He praised the way that Northants bowled in pairs and made sure that they never lost clusters of wickets when batting. As much as these are good points, they are also the sort of points that you shouldn't really need to point out to professional cricketers.

If the result wasn't disappointing enough, injuries prevented both Benny Howell and Liam Norwell from taking the field in Northants second innings. Benny apparently has a bruised hand; Norwell has a groin strain. Both are doubtful for Wednesdays trip to Leicestershire (on a completely different point; isn't it nice that championship games have fixed start days) Back to injuries. Before this season started we noted that the squad was painfully thin. Injuries to Ian Saxelby and Paul Muchall and now Benny and Norwell. Those are the sorts of things you can't afford when you are struggling for a quality first xi. Presumably Ian Cockbain will be on stand by for Benny and young Craig Miles will take Liam Norwell's spot. Norwell's injury is a particular concern given his fragile body over the past couple of seasons.

As much as Michael Klinger might be talking common sense perhaps we can add a few extra things that he didn't actually say, but is probably now starting to think. "Christ mate, I wish we had some bloody mature gritty county trundler who can run in all day and put the ball on the spot". Gloucestershires most experienced bowler is Will Gidman, a man with only two full seasons under his belt. Compare this to Northants who can add the grizzled Andrew Hall and test credentials of Trent Copeland to their young stud, David Willey. Anyone know whether John Lewis is bored of playing in Surrey's 2nd xi?

Next week Gloucestershire travel to Leicestershire. Does county cricket have the equivalent of the relegation six pointer?

Glos v Essex: Let the games begin....

New season. Same useless Gloucestershire website.

Gloucestershire take on Essex today in the first day of the 2013 season. Unsurprisingly Gloucestershire name an all seam attack, with Jack Taylor being let out.

More surprising is the debut of 18 year old wicket keeper Cameron Herring. Naturally there is no official word on this decision. Nor, is there much information regarding young Cameron's potential. Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised.

Ian Cockbain has also been left out, with Benny Howell filling the 6th batsman spot. Again, no explanation. Considering that Cockbain demonstrated genuine potential last season this is another surprising omission.

Presumably these decisions will be explained by the club.......oh, if only.

If anyone feels so inclined, please feel free to tweet the officially Glos twitter account (@Gloscricket) and ask them about these selectorial decisions. Just don't hold your breath for an answer.

Finally, some momentum? Twenty20 recap

Gloucestershire 141 for 1 (Marshall 66, Howell 55*) beat Somerset 140 for 8 (Muralitharan 2-20) by nine wickets

Your correspondents at the Jessop Tavern View realise we have been about as reliable at updating the blog as the UK weather has been recently. Our excuse (of course we have one) is the rather disjointed nature of this season's T20 competition. So far, Glos have had 6 fixtures, of which two were won, two lost and the final two abandoned without a ball being bowled. Tonight's match versus Glamorgan could well be heading that way as well if the forecast holds true. This leaves us 4th out of 6 teams in the Midlands/Wales/West group and the Jessop Tavern view none the wiser about whether we have a chance of qualification for the quarter finals. Which stupidly take place two weeks after the last group games finish. (Don't get us started on the fact that the Finals Day takes place on August 25th, a further month later)


What all of this means is that it's been bloody hard to get any momentum going in this season's competition. Unless you are Sussex or Yorkshire who have basically already qualified for the QFs. It's also been hard for us to generate any real enthusiasm for such a disjointed, rain-affected mishmash of a T20 competition.


Still, in our last match we did manage to deliver a 9 wicket hiding to local rivals and fellow cider-lovers, Somerset (Sabres). A decent effort with the ball restricted Somerset to 140, with spinners Murali and Ed Young both bowling economically. Ian Saxelby and James 'sprayer' Fuller took two wickets each, although Fuller did concede a typical 40 runs in getting them. Glos reject, Kevin 'Richard' O'Brien failed against his former paymasters, holing out for just 8 off Fuller and the dangerous Richard '501' Levi also fell cheaply.


The target never really proved too much trouble,once skipper O'Mish and Benny 'and the Jets' Howell put on a rapid 115 for the first wicket. Both reached 50 from less than 40 balls, as Marshall's was the only wicket to fall in an easy run chase that finished with more than 5 overs remaining.

So, back to our earlier point about momentum. Was this result enough to generate some much-needed wins to get us over the line and into the quarter finals? Very hard to tell, given that another no result tonight doesn't really help us and we don't really know how many points will be needed to win the group or qualify as best runner up. All this bloody rain around the country is at least keeping things tight, even if it hasn't made for much of a spectacle as yet. Still, we're nothing if not optimists here at the Jessop Tavern View. So, come on the boys in the last 3 group matches, do us proud!

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.

World's worst cricket competition up and running

Yes ladies and gents its that time of year again. Time to embark on yet another rollercoaster of emotions that is the CB40 competition. Oh yes. And if indeed the CB40 were a rollercoaster, it would be one of this shit kiddie dragon ones that applies the brakes every time it goes down a slope. Actually, the Jessop Tavern View would rather be stuck on a never ending kids rollercoaster than watch the CB40, and we have a notoriously weak stomach for rollercoasters.

Yet again the CB40 competition pioneers the 40 over game, a format of the game played nowhere else on the planet. A competition that the Morgan report described as "not working from either a financial, or cricketing perspective". A competition whose structure of only one team qualifying from groups of seven means that after the first weekends round of matches, teams can already be pretty much eliminated from the competition, yet still have 10 fixtures left to play.

Naturally, the Jessop Tavern View reserves the right to withdraw these comments should Glos reach the final.

So this Bank Holiday weekend has seen the boys lose a nailbiter to Holland and, this evening, comfortably beat a disinterested Middlesex side live on TV. Being as this second game marked the first time I have been able to watch the boys live, I continue to be impressed by the character of the team, if not quite the talent. To lose a final ball thriller against Holland at home, and then immediately to travel to London to play another game, Glos showed remarkable backbone to bounce back so impressively. After saying the same for nearly all of last season, as well as for the first month of this, the Jessop Tavern View may finally have to shake its pessimistic nature and accept that this Gloucestershire side no longer rolls over and dies.

Tonight saw impressive performances from Ed Young, our man Benny, and bugger us if Hamish O'Marshall didn't contribute for a second time in a week. Being as this is the first time we have seen Benny bat we are now wondering whether he always wanders across his stumps like he did tonight. A sort of Kim Barnett, but instead of starting a foot outside leg stump, Benny starts on about middle and leg. Anyway, his innings showed a real maturity, and some considerable common sense. Knowing when to hit the accelerator, or when to just keep the scoreboard ticking is clearly something he learnt at Hampshire. Apparently Benny is on a rolling, game by game contract. We say sign him up. The guy is from Bordeaux, so even if he goes a bit crap, he should know a good bottle of red, which is always a useful thing to bring to a dressing room.

According to the Sky pundits, Gloucestershire will be focusing on the one day games this season as we haven't a hope of doing anything in the championship (These are the same pundits who described O'Mish as the engine room of our batting!) Whilst we are not prepared to throw in the towel in the championship just yet, a nice run in a one day competition this year would make for a nice change from a never-ending series of dead rubbers in both the CB40 and T20.

Next up for the boys, however, is Yorkshire in the county championship on Wednesday.

Glos suffer hangover on Day 1

Day 1: Glos 131-6 v Kent

After last week's epic win versus Hampshire, captain Alex Gidman was quoted on the official site as saying 'There may be a few beers drunk tonight and they will be fully deserved'. As the Jessop Tavern View is only too aware after a recent stag do, too much alcohol can lead to a hangover and  reduced effectiveness on days to come. Well, today's effort with the bat has certainly proved that, as Gloucestershire struggled to 131-6 on a rain-affected day in Canterbury where 42 overs were lost to the elements.

Kent won the toss and understandably sent Gloucestershire in. Last week's centurion, Chris Dent, followed that knock with a second ball dismissal here and Richard Coughtrie followed for 3 five overs later. Coughtrie has now scored under 20 runs in 5 championship knocks as an opener and you wonder how long he can continue at the top of the order with Cockbain also in the side.

Newcomer Benny Howell batted well on debut for a hard-earned 44, before becoming one of Matt Coles' three victims. Skipper Gidman and O'Mish both failed again before the reliable pair of Cockbain and the better Gidders repaired some of the damage with a partnership of 58, before Cockbain fell in the last over of the day, unluckily caught in the gully off the inside edge.

Some hard work will be needed tomorrow, although the rain looks likely to take time out of the game on all four days, which may well prove to be the shire's saviour. Still, who would be unhappy with a win, a loss and a draw from three away championship games in April?

Preview: Kent v Gloucestershire

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.