Praise be to God! The return of the wonderful Glos Cricket Radio means that the Jessop Tavern View might actually be able to do more than just plagiarise various match reports by listening to how the boys are getting on!
Where actually Glos Cricket Radio went we have no idea, we only discovered they were back online at lunchtime today, but like all the true broadcasting giants they have no need to justify their behaviour!
www.gloscricketradio.com
Glos la la la blog
A pair of long-suffering Gloucestershire County Cricket club fans attempt to put the world (and the Glos administration) to rights. Themes include: Is one England ODI a year a good model for financial success and ground redevelopments, whether a batting average of 35 in Division 2 of the County Championship is acceptable and why Glos continue to be rubbish.
Showing posts with label Glos cricket radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glos cricket radio. Show all posts
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Alex Gidman finally gets runs as Glos rack up a big total
Day 2, Close: Leicestershire 15-0 trail Gloucestershire 504-9 by 489 runs (PTS: Leics 1, Glos 5)
Prior to today, Alex Gidman had not scored a Championship century since September 2009. Given that all 15 of his Championship hundreds have come in the course of large team totals, he could be seen as a bit of a flat track bully. The Graeme Hick of Division 2 of the county championship, if you will. Only less good. Over 100 first class hundreds less good, actually.
Despite our cynicism, The Jessop Tavern View is pleased that Alex finally scored some runs today. We know the pitch is flat. We know that Leicestershire's attack is a bit knackered. Claude Henderson is 39, made his first class debut in 1990 (!) and has already bowled 169 overs in 4 day cricket coming into this match. Still, 168 is a good knock and he scored them at a reasonable pace. The better brother, Will Gidman, had a rare failure today, falling LBW to Henderson for just 16, proving that the brotherly form baton was firmly with Alex on this occasion.
The match result from here depends largely on our attack's ability to take 20 wickets. Lewis and Saxelby made little impression in the overs before the close, so it will be down to our four-pronged (if you believe that Williamson and Taylor count as bowlers) spin attack to do the damage. Worrying, when the 'best' of these is Vikram Banerjee, a man whose 96 first class victims thus far have come at an average of 45! Ed Young will be the man we'll be keeping an eye on tomorrow. By eye, we of course mean ear, as the excellent Glos Cricket Radio is the closest we'll get to the live action. Young is a very promising youngster, by all accounts, and hopefully the man for the job over the next two days.
Let's hope for a nice dry day tomorrow to turn the pitch into a raging bunsen. Cmon the 'shire!
Prior to today, Alex Gidman had not scored a Championship century since September 2009. Given that all 15 of his Championship hundreds have come in the course of large team totals, he could be seen as a bit of a flat track bully. The Graeme Hick of Division 2 of the county championship, if you will. Only less good. Over 100 first class hundreds less good, actually.
Despite our cynicism, The Jessop Tavern View is pleased that Alex finally scored some runs today. We know the pitch is flat. We know that Leicestershire's attack is a bit knackered. Claude Henderson is 39, made his first class debut in 1990 (!) and has already bowled 169 overs in 4 day cricket coming into this match. Still, 168 is a good knock and he scored them at a reasonable pace. The better brother, Will Gidman, had a rare failure today, falling LBW to Henderson for just 16, proving that the brotherly form baton was firmly with Alex on this occasion.
The match result from here depends largely on our attack's ability to take 20 wickets. Lewis and Saxelby made little impression in the overs before the close, so it will be down to our four-pronged (if you believe that Williamson and Taylor count as bowlers) spin attack to do the damage. Worrying, when the 'best' of these is Vikram Banerjee, a man whose 96 first class victims thus far have come at an average of 45! Ed Young will be the man we'll be keeping an eye on tomorrow. By eye, we of course mean ear, as the excellent Glos Cricket Radio is the closest we'll get to the live action. Young is a very promising youngster, by all accounts, and hopefully the man for the job over the next two days.
Let's hope for a nice dry day tomorrow to turn the pitch into a raging bunsen. Cmon the 'shire!
Saturday, 16 April 2011
The teletext roller coaster
Day 2: Glamorgan 202 & 185 - 3 v Gloucestershire 188
As somebody who does not work in front of a computer, or use a modern mobile phone, following the Shire during the week is all about taking whatever opportunities come your way to grab the latest score. I can usually rely on a few text messages throughout the day, more if we are winning or doing despicably badly. Other than that my main source of score updates is teletext. I'm sure we have all been there. Sat watching the screen update for hours on end to track how are team are doing. The tension as a close game reaches its conclusion is only heightened by watching the game on teletext. Yesterday's topsy turvy second day of play at Cardiff provided a roller coaster of emotions transmitted via the wonderful teletext.
With such a young team days like yesterday are going to be all too frequent. In fact days like yesterday and the day before. Winning positions will quickly be squandered. Fightbacks will be wastefully thrown away.
Yesterday's fightback saw the Sperm donor continued his late career charge into allrounder territory (hey, this is only division 2!) and Banerjee made a very handy contribution to get us back in the game. Glos la la la described Banerjee's knock as his 'second greatest first class innings' which begs the question of what the guys writing the blog get up to in their spare time. Do they really have a list of Vikram Banerjee's top ten first class knocks? Something tells me that there are county cricket supporters who might have.
Trailing by 14 runs we are now basically in a one innings game. Disappointingly the bowling was unable to fire and runs flowed to such an extent that by the end of the days play it seems that only a proper collapse can give Gloucestershire a chance. I wouldn't fancy us chasing more than 250 with 10 men. That said, the great thing about the low quality of county cricket is that collapses of this nature are almost common enough to be the norm!
We shouldn't get too down on Norwell and Saxelby. They will be well aware that they need to become more economical. That it is not always possible to bowl wicket taking deliveries and sometimes line and length and drying up the runs is what is needed. Translating this to the middle will be the difficult part, but lets give them time.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Chris Dent has had a double fracture and dislocation to his little finger. This raises the question of who will open the batting for the 6 weeks (minimum) that he will be out. Will Coughtrie be trusted? Could O'Mish or Williamson (when he is not instructing in the gym)? Or could, and take a deep breath everyone, Jon Batty return up the order? If this last scenario should occur it will again raise the question from last year as to whether Glos would be better off opening with only one batsman?
Alternatively, does anyone know Kadreary's number?
As somebody who does not work in front of a computer, or use a modern mobile phone, following the Shire during the week is all about taking whatever opportunities come your way to grab the latest score. I can usually rely on a few text messages throughout the day, more if we are winning or doing despicably badly. Other than that my main source of score updates is teletext. I'm sure we have all been there. Sat watching the screen update for hours on end to track how are team are doing. The tension as a close game reaches its conclusion is only heightened by watching the game on teletext. Yesterday's topsy turvy second day of play at Cardiff provided a roller coaster of emotions transmitted via the wonderful teletext.
With such a young team days like yesterday are going to be all too frequent. In fact days like yesterday and the day before. Winning positions will quickly be squandered. Fightbacks will be wastefully thrown away.
Yesterday's fightback saw the Sperm donor continued his late career charge into allrounder territory (hey, this is only division 2!) and Banerjee made a very handy contribution to get us back in the game. Glos la la la described Banerjee's knock as his 'second greatest first class innings' which begs the question of what the guys writing the blog get up to in their spare time. Do they really have a list of Vikram Banerjee's top ten first class knocks? Something tells me that there are county cricket supporters who might have.
Trailing by 14 runs we are now basically in a one innings game. Disappointingly the bowling was unable to fire and runs flowed to such an extent that by the end of the days play it seems that only a proper collapse can give Gloucestershire a chance. I wouldn't fancy us chasing more than 250 with 10 men. That said, the great thing about the low quality of county cricket is that collapses of this nature are almost common enough to be the norm!
We shouldn't get too down on Norwell and Saxelby. They will be well aware that they need to become more economical. That it is not always possible to bowl wicket taking deliveries and sometimes line and length and drying up the runs is what is needed. Translating this to the middle will be the difficult part, but lets give them time.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Chris Dent has had a double fracture and dislocation to his little finger. This raises the question of who will open the batting for the 6 weeks (minimum) that he will be out. Will Coughtrie be trusted? Could O'Mish or Williamson (when he is not instructing in the gym)? Or could, and take a deep breath everyone, Jon Batty return up the order? If this last scenario should occur it will again raise the question from last year as to whether Glos would be better off opening with only one batsman?
Alternatively, does anyone know Kadreary's number?
Thursday, 7 April 2011
The hard life of a long distance Gloucestershire cricket fan
As another summer threatens to get under way and with England’s shambolic performance in the World Cup burying long ago the memories of the wonderful Ashes victory another season of county cricket stumbles upon us. Much like lunchtime football kick-offs, even the most die hard of county cricket fans surely struggle to pluck up much excitement at a start date of early April. But here we are again for another season of ups and downs and questions as to quite what is the point of the Clydesdale Axa equity Pro 50-40 divisional conference league is.
But isn’t this the fun of being a county cricket fan, particularly if you now live outside the county you support. You find yourself scrambling in the dark for information, reading match reports of no more than 200 words and frantically analysing cricinfo for any sign of a players form turning around. But things are better than they use to be. Us Gloucestershire fans have become familiar to the ever enthusiastic tones of Glos Cricket Radio and last season were even treated to a webcam from the commentary box. I spent an entire day of my life trying to tear myself away of a side on view of the square at Derby wondering quite what had become of my life. The ECB themselves have tried to help the fans out with a ‘highlights’ package put on their website at the end of each days play. The camera is a fixed one and is focused exclusively at the batsman at the crease. It doesn’t follow the ball. You end up feeling like someone secretly looking in via a peep hole (although it could be argued that this is the preferred way to watch the horror show of some of the performances last season!)
As a long distance fan I find myself relying on the excellent Gloucestershire la la la blog and the BBC cricket forum, a disgruntled bunch of misfits who clearly enjoy using the opportunity for personal humour amongst the different groups of friends who take the time to have a moan. Being a county cricket fan is a bits and pieces experience, especially when, like myself, you find yourself living further and further away from being able to see many of the games. When you compare this to the riches that football fans get indulged with in the modern age following a county cricket team for a season is to place yourself 20 years back in time. Before the internet. Before Sky. You scratch together what information you can and form your opinion from here. The only difference is that these opinions can find themselves on places such as this! And this is where we start. This blog is not intended as a particularly detailed assessment of Gloucestershire’s season as it unfolds. It is merely an attempt to detail the experiences of a long distance fan of county cricket and the trials and tribulations that this entails. It's going to be a long season.
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