2018 Preview: Part 2 - Green tops for Nevil Road

Our 2018 season preview concludes with a look at the bowling. Young pups Norwell, Payne, Miles and Matt Taylor should surely form a tasty, locally-reared quartet of a pace attack. Throw in the intriguing overseas signing of Dan Worrall and the Shire really should be a dangerous proposition with the ball.

Presumably the groundsman at Nevil Road is going to allow the short mower to go rust in 2018 as there doesn’t appear a spin option worthy of the name. The sight of opposition players scratching their heads, wondering where the strip is on a lush, grassy Bristol square should become a familiar sight in 2018.

Dan Worrall (Career average: 29.61 with 136 wickets in 35 fc matches at a strike rate of 55.94 and 5 five wicket hauls; One day average: 39.21 with 28 wickets in 24 matches)

Worrall represents something of a throwback signing. An overseas player, here for the entire season, which we reckon can only be a good thing. His career stats aren’t anything too exciting, but he has clearly shown enough signs of talent back in Oz to have found international recognition in the ODI setup.

He is coming off the back of a successful 17/18 Sheffield Shield season where his 34 wickets meant that only 5 men took more first class wickets down under this winter. All of this does point towards a shrewd signing by the Shire. However, we have seen one too many Shabbir Ahmed’s over the years to know that for every Courtney Walsh there is an Ashley Noffke!

Liam Norwell (Career stats: 248 wickets @ 26.89, including 10 5 wicket hauls and 3 10 wicket matches)

In 2017 Norwell took 59 wickets at 18.11, including 5 five-fors and twice he took 10 wickets in a match. We were about to write that this was a career year for the ginger paceman. But it wasn’t particularly. In 2015 he took 68 wickets. In 2016 he took 44. For the last 3 seasons he has been one of divisions two’s prime strike men.

Fitness issues dogged the early part of his career, but hopefully the decent strength in depth in the seam bowling department this year will mean his workload can be properly managed and 2018 will see him develop further....and then inevitably bugger off to Somerset next year!

Craig Miles (Career stats: 199 wickets @ 28.26, including 11 five wicket hauls and one 10 wicket match)

Come back the 2015-16 version of Craig Miles! Admittedly, the Jessop Tavern can never type Miles’ name without picturing 78 year old Azhar Mahmood dispatching a final ball bouncer over deep square leg for the 6 that was needed to win the match in a T20 blast match, but that version of Craig Miles at least had some spunk. Was 2017 just a blip?

The lack of news provided to long distance fans means that we are never entirely sure how injuries play out in the distant, unreported, galaxy that is division 2 of the county championship. Whatever the issues in 2017 the Shire will be hoping that the still only 23 year old can return to the sort of form that saw him take 50 wickets in consecutive seasons, and earn a call up to the England Lions.

David Payne (Career stats: 198 wickets @ 32.96, with 3 five wicket hauls. In List A cricket he averages 22.76)

David Payne will sit out the first part of the season recovering from recent ankle surgery. His quick recovery will be vital to the Shire’s success when the white ball cricket gets underway. In recent seasons the limited overs stuff has been Payne’s chance to come to the fore.

His championship work often goes unnoticed. His awkward left arm pace providing a nice counterpunch to the more orthodox angles of Norwell and Miles. His 28 first class wickets in 2017 might not look spectacular, but are the perfect ballast for other guys to work around. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Matt Taylor (Career stats: 67 wickets @ 41.83)

David Payne’s injury represents an opportunity for the only remaining bowling version of the Taylor brothers to stake a claim to become more than the squad bowler he has been since making his debut in 2013. At only 23, time is still on his side to develop on the potential that has been glimpsed at times.

However, a bowling average that has never dipped below 40 in first class cricket (and in List A it actually sits around 50!) does not lie and it will be a big step up for Taylor to be a regular contributor. Injuries and the need to rotate the seamers will give him his chance. Hopefully he will have the talent to grasp it.

Chris Liddle (Career stats: 46 wickets @ 48.41....ouch! In List A he has 97 wickets @ 26.60)

Liddle was a strange signing last year. The 34 year old journeyman arrived as a white ball specialist, yet found himself in the 4 day team for a greater number of games than expected. His contribution in the Royal London Cup was a very handy 18 wickets, but in the T20 Blast he made less of an impact with only 6 wickets in the competition despite playing every game. What his role will be in 2018 is unclear. Presumably a return to being a white ball cricketer.

Tom Smith (Career Stats: 74 wickets @ 49.20 in first class cricket; 55 wickets @ 39.63 in List A and 106 wickets @ 22.43 in T20)

Let's whizz through this quick. Glos won’t be spinning any webs in 2018. Smith has been a solid pro for the Shire since his arrival from Middlesex. However, his best moments have been reserved for the short form of the game and he represents nothing more than a man who can get through some overs waiting for the new ball.

Miles Hammond (Career stats: 1 wicket @ 196.00 in 3 matches)

The only other spinner listed on the Gloucestershire first XI page of the website (so not necessarily the only other spin option!) the 22 year old from Cheltenham has a long way to go. His 3 games actually came back in 2013, although he is a former England U-19 international.

Potentially the most interesting thing to watch with regards to Hammond in 2018 is whether his profile exists on the Glos website due to lazy updating by whoever runs the site or whether he is actually a legitimate member of the squad. We know where our money is.

Overview
So there we go. The 2018 season can officially get underway. The boys start with an away trip to Kent, so all is left is to wish them well and to hope that it's nice and overcast on Friday morning for our seamers to run through them before the sun shines for the rest of the match.

Good luck to all of the boys for this season. Our enthusiasm is high at the moment so let's see if you can keep us blogging through to September!

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.