Glos pick themselves up with a super win over Worcestershire

Gloucestershire (364-6 dec and 320-5) beat Worcestershire (439 and 239) by 5 wickets.

The crazy scheduling of English county cricket allowed Gloucestershire to warm up for their up and coming T20 games by blasting 320 from 57 overs in a little over two sessions. In particular, Maxy Klinger and Jack Taylor finished the job with a partnership of 179 in 24 overs. By itself that would be a fairly handy T20 score. Gloucestershire's run chase perfectly illustrated the wonderful cross-over of skills and mentality from T20 to 4 day cricket. Those who view the long and short forms of the game as separate entities should sit back and enjoy such matches.

A see-saw match eventually ended up going Gloucestershire's way after an impressively gutsy declaration from first year skipper Gareth Roderick. On day 1 Glos had actually reduced Worcestershire to 35 for 5 and the fact that Worcestershire then managed to add 400 for their final 5 wickets will be a concern to the coach Dawson. Miles and Shaw both proved expensive, with Miles in particular managing to get flogged for over 7 an over, a distinctly T20 figure that is less welcome in the longer format. Despite the late order butchering by the Worcestershire tail enders the Jessop tavern was encouraged to see a far more exciting and attacking bowling line-up take to the field. The impressive lower order batting of Jack taylor and Craig Miles, backed up by David Payne and Liam Norwell finally allowed Glos to have the confidence to ditch the bits and pieces role of Gourmet-Burger and Benny Howell. Instead Taylor was promoted to bat at 7 and Miles was given the important role of contributing runs at number 8. Both decisions would be fully vindicated.

In reply to Worcestershire's first innings total Glos put themselves into a strong position thanks mainly to a magnificent 172 from Graeme 'Jacques' Van Buuren in only his second match for the Shire. Having made a match winning contribution with the ball in his first game, the new Jacques looks like a very handy signing. He was also ably assisted by runs from the skipper at the top of the order, and then an unbroken stand of 134 with new number 8 Craig Miles. Miles making an important 60 not out to justify his promotion. This sudden maturity of the bowling unit into being a very handy lower order batting combination has been one of the real stand out finds for the Shire in 2016. Full praise to the guys and the coaching team for this transformation.

Poised at 364 for 6 at lunch on day 3 the game was still in the balance. Given that this is still only the second month of the season logic would dictate that Glos attempt to bat themselves into a position where only they could win. The Jessop Tavern certainly thought so. Get the scores level by tea. Then have a bit of a blast with what batting remains in the hope of building a lead of 50 plus. From that position you then hope you can run through the opposition setting up a short run chase late on the fourth day. Given the relative solid position in the table that is certainly the way you would have expected Glos to go at lunch on day 3. It is thus to their enormous credit that Roderick and the coaches decided to declare whilst still 75 runs behind. The declaration showed an enormous statement of confidence in the bowlers to get the job done and showcased that Gloucestershire are serious about pushing for promotion in the championship.

The plan worked magnificently. Craig Miles went from Jekyll to Hyde and ran in hard to take 5 for 54. Liam Norwell backed him up with 4 for 70 and Glos were suddenly chasing a fairly daunting 315 to win on a miserable overcast afternoon. Roderick and the new Jacques got the show on the road with enterprising knocks of 30 and 42 respectively, but when George Hankins was LBW with the scoreboard reading 141 for 5 Gloucestershire gutsy declaration looked poised to backfire. Again, logic would say that requiring another 174 runs, and with only the tail for support, Glos would look to shut up shop. Worcestershire would certainly have hoped so. Maxy Klinger and Jack Taylor thought otherwise. 179 runs and only 24 over later it was all done and dusted. Klinger blasted Brett D'Oliveria for another 6 and walked off undefeated on 102 from 141 balls. At the other end Jack Taylor presumably looked a bit disappointed that the fun had to end. Taylor ending up on 107 from only 72 balls. Such was the extent of the destruction that 10 overs were still left to be bowled.

It has been a fun last month for Gloucestershire fans. A dramatic late afternoon bowling display to beat Glamorgan was then followed by the disappointment of not being able to take 7 wickets to defeat Northants on the final day of play. And now this victory. In that time Glos have ditched the conservative and welcomed in an aggressive new lineup. They discovered the new Jacques Kallis as well as seen the second coming of Lock and Laker, with our spin twins tweaking Glos to victory against Glamorgan. Oh, and Maxy Klinger has returned, walking off the plane and strutting around like it is 2015 with back to back hundreds. In 3 innings Klinger has 250 runs at an average of 125.

Incredibly, as the T20 Blast ruins everyone's fun with another round of matches, Gloucestershire now sit second in the table. Is the fun just getting started?

Day 4 highlights:

Day 3 highlights:

Day 2 highlights:

Day 1 highlights:

Draw-ja vu all over again

Worcestershire 411 (Clarke 135, Moeen 74, Cox 69) and 210 for 4 (Moeen 136*) drew with Gloucestershire 380 (Marshall 135, Noema-Barnett 84, Dent 59, Shantry 4-89) and 382 for 7 dec (Dent 138*, Taylor 105, Cockbain 67)
Scorecard

After a heavy opening round defeat to Essex, Glos have rebounded nicely with two fairly healthy draws against Derbyshire and Worcestershire than demonstrates that whilst the squad might be light on top class match winners, it doesn't lack for heart.


At the start of the season we called for Chris Dent to make this the season that he starts to stamp his class across Division 2. So far he has 402 runs from 5 innings at an average of 102. Minus Michael Klinger, this is exactly what Glos needed from their most talented batsman. Gloucestershire supporters have glimpsed Dent's considerable talents a few times over the last few years without him ever going on to have a truly dominant year. Dent should be setting his sights on 5 or 6 hundreds and heading towards 1400 runs in the championship.

What else to say about this game? Lots of runs were scored on another flattish deck. O'Mish scored an invaluable hundred when Glos were in trouble in the first innings. Gourmet-Burger belied our frequent criticism to support him in an important partnership, before promptly throwing it away with a slog in the first over on Day 2. Jack Taylor also impressed with the bat in hitting a violent 105 in the third innings. He took a heavy toll on their spinners, especially Moeen. Ali then struck a typically attractive unbeaten hundred of his own on Day 4, including some meaty 'revenge' blows off Taylor.

The game was drawn and we moved on to Canterbury to face Kent. A good start from the boys although we're clearly going to struggle to bowl sides out until Miles returns.

Day 1 highlights:

Day 2 highlights:

Day 3 highlights:

Day 4 highlights

50 over recap: The good, the bad and the irrelevant

The Royal London Cup has surprised a few people so far this season. Very much the third domestic trophy, it traditionally takes place towards the end of the season when more than half the counties have basically given up the ghost and are merely playing for pride.

Previous incarnations saw a slightly weird qualifying system used where two groups went straight to the semi finals, which meant that early losses soon proved terminal for even the best limited over sides. Thankfully we're now settled back into an international standard 50 over format, with a quarter final stage to further help separate the wheat from the county chaff.

Even more pleasingly, Gloucestershire have proven themselves a passable side in the format thus far. The shire finished their group stage matches with a home quarter final birth secured after five wins from eight with a no result v Yorkshire. We'll discount the fact that the home draw was in fact secured following bad weather which ensured Yorkshire's match at Scarborough was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

So to a brief recap of the completed matches so far. We'll skip the Yorkshire game which we were in a great position to win until bad weather intervened.

The Good

July 29
Gloucestershire 205 for 4 (Roderick 54) beat Derbyshire 274 for 5 (Rutherford 110, Madsen 106*) by six wickets - D/L 
Scorecard

First up was a wild game at Nevil Road, which was secured when Benny and Jack Taylor struck an outrageous 69 from the final four overs to secure a fortunate D/L victory. Having fielded poorly in conceding two individual tons to Hamish Rutherford and Wayne Madsen, we were always going to be up against it.

Rain altered the target to 284 from 48 and again to 204 from 35 overs and at 136-3 we looked dead and buried. However, Taylor came in and immediately set about the bowling, hitting leggie Critchley for 3 sixes in an over to begin the carnage which concluded with Taylor being caught off the final delivery off which 6 were needed. Miraculously a no ball was called, for too many fielders on the leg side of all things, and a single was taken to add to the two extras, Benny Howell then smashed the final delivery for a four to complete a unlikely victory

Video highlights

July 31
Gloucestershire 315 for 6 (Roderick 104, Jones 87, Klinger 50) beat Leicestershire 314 (Aadil 84, Burgess 49, Taylor 42*, Smith 3-45) by one run
Scorecard

Another interesting contest and an unexpectedly tight one, given the opposition and match situation. Gareth Roderick's maiden List A hundred and Geraint Jones' career high 87 (a bit worrying when you score that in your final season, at the age of 39?) saw the boys post over 300 and we then reduced Leics to 128/5 in response.

However, a couple of fine partnerships; 96 between Aadil Ali and Burgess and then 44 from Clint McKay and Rob Taylor (in just 4.4 overs) left McKay needing 3 from the final ball to complete an unlikely victory. Luckily enough, Glos' excellent fielding came to the rescue as captain Maxi Klinger made a diving stop before running out the Aussie to restrict Leics to a single run.

A tight victory was thus secured, although the worrying James Fuller no ball beamer problem returned, seeing him withdrawn from the attack for the second time this season. Not ideal to lose one of your strike bowlers at a key moment and hopefully the Kiwi can get this under control from now on. When firing he's a fine bowler and a handy batsman, to boot.

Video highlights

August 2

Gloucestershire 247 for 7 (Klinger 107, Groenewald 3-53) beat Somerset 244 for 7 (Hildreth 85*, Gregory 62) by three wickets
Scorecard

The next match, against West Country rivals Somerset, saw a sight as familiar as a pint of cider in the hand of supporters on either side, Maxi Klinger acknowledging the crowd's applause for another fine hundred. The man's form this season has been nothing short of remarkable- he's averaging over 100 in this competition as well as over 80 in T20 and 46 in the championship. One could argue that if the travelling Australian circus wanted to add another performer to the troupe then they could do a lot worse than calling on our skipper.

This would obviously be bad news for the 'Shire, as Klinger runs again turned a tight game in our favour. A lowish chase of 245 proved tricky, with Dent falling early to Groenewald and Roderick also departing cheaply. Klinger however anchored the innings superbly, scoring his 107 off 133 balls with nine boundaries including 4 sixes. The game was still in the balanced when he fell with 43 still needed and when Gourmet-Burger departed with the score on 213 there was work to do. Luckily Jack Taylor was at the crease and he put on a useful partnership with James Fuller. Taylor then struck two sixes in the penultimate over from Groenewald and the victory was secured with two balls remaining. A good win.

Video highlights

August 4
Gloucestershire 289 for 7 (Klinger 135*, Jones 54) beat Durham 214 (Hastings 46, Payne 5-40, Miles 2-29) by 71 runs D/L
Scorecard

There doesn't appear to be a match report available on Cricinfo for this game, so we'll stick to the facts. A dominant batting performance saw Glos post an excellent 289 from just 41 rain-affected overs. The demon Klinger carried his bat for another hundred, his highest score of the summer so far, despite an injury requiring a runner towards the end. Geraint Jones continued his streaky run of form with 54 and Benny Howell chipped in with a quickfire 45 from 24 balls towards the end.

Durham were never really in the contest, losing wickets throughout, before a late flurry from John Hastings saw them limped past 200, before being dismissed for 214 in the final over. Sid Payne took an excellent 5-40, including most of the lower order and Miles also bowled economically in what has been a fine season in all formats for the 21 year old.

Video highlights

August 5

Gloucestershire 265 for 6 (Tavare 61, Jones 58, Roderick 56) beat Worcestershire 264 for 8 (Clark 131*) by four wickets (D/L method)
Scorecard

Glos secured a quarter final place with their 5th consecutive win against bottom side Worcs who lost their 5th straight Royal London fixture. The boys performed well without the injured titan Klinger, who missed out with a hamstring strain. Worcester actually posted a decent total, based around a superb 131* from 19 year old Joe Clarke. The 'Shire bowling was relatively expensive in this game, with only the wicketless James Fuller keeping the economy rate below 4 an over.

Glos managed a tricky chase well, with all of the top 4 chipping in. The recalled Will Tavare, hitherto fairly useless in white ball cricket, hit 61 and Roderick and Geraint also hit 50s. Even Chris Dent, who had slumped into a terrible rut recently, managed 43 in an opening stand of 106 with Tavare. Despite losing late wickets we got over the line comfortably and booked a quarter final place early with two fixtures yet to play.

Video highlights

The Bad

August 17

Northamptonshire 217 for 6 (Cobb 58, Taylor 3-45) beat Gloucestershire 215 (Howell 80, Roderick 57, Crook 4-37, Stone 3-34) by four wickets 
Scorecard

This game wasn't that important for the 'Shire and it showed. We're running out of steam on these recaps, so we'll stick to saying that Glos underperformed with the bat and did ok to reach 200 plus in the end. Northants were always looking favourites after an opening partnership of 80 took a large chunk out of the chase. Despite losing a few middle order wickets along the way, a calm 31* from skipper Alex Wakely got them over the line with 9 overs still to bowl.

Video highlights

The Irrelevant

August 18
Surrey 291 for 8 (Burns 95, Fuller 3-26) beat Gloucestershire 279 (Howell 60, T Curran 4-65) by 12 runs 
Scorecard

This game proved to be a complete dead rubber once Yorkshire's fixture against Northants was rained off in mid-afternoon. Good job too, as Glos again failed to chase down a Surrey target anchored by

Rory Burns' List A-best of 95. James Fuller returned 3-26 and Benny Howell continued his all round form with 2-54 from 9 tidy overs.

Glos struggled with a challenging chase, although the Frenchman again batted solidly for a team-high 60 and put on 90 in 15.4 overs with Fuller, who scored his one day high of 45. Chris Dent managed an attractive 49 before getting out as his first List A 50 of the year seemed on the cards.

It ended up mattering little as the weather allowed Glos the luxury of a home quarter against Hampshire on August 26th.

Video highlights

Wonders never cease as Glos storm to 3 day victory at New Road

Gloucestershire 378 (Gidman 146, Roderick 98) and 178 for 3 (Dent 51) beat Worcestershire 194 (Oliver 52, Miles 4-54) and 360 (Oliver 179, Norwell 4-69) by seven wickets

We're back for one of our monthly cricketing posts. This time we're tackling that rarest of beasts, the County Championship. Not only did the boys achieve a rare win on Sunday, it was in fact our first win at New Road since 1986. It seems hard to believe that this is out first Championship match since we were hammered in the reverse fixture at Cheltenham in late July, but that's the county cricket schedule for you.

Anyway, this time we have much better news. This time around the boys secured a convincing seven wicket win over Division 2 leaders Worcestershire inside 3 days. This was a superb performance, where we shook off the lack of an injured (and soon-to-depart) Will Gidman to dominate Worcs almost from start to finish.

There were encouraging performances all round, from stand-in skipper Gidders' dominant 146 in the first innings, to Gareth Roderick's impressive 98 batting at number 3 and on to Craig Miles, who again bowled well to take 4-54 in the first innings. Liam Norwell's excellent 4-69 in Worcs second knock polished off the tail in double quick fashion after Dent finally got rid of the dangerous Richard 'Bath' Oliver for a career-best 179. We then made short work of the 177 target, with Dent finding a semblance of form with a 50 and Gidders blasting a no pressure 45 to see us home with more than a day to spare.

What to make of this effort then? This is clearly an excellent win against a Worcestershire side who have dominated Division 2 so far this year. Miles did exceptionally well to dismiss the country's leading run scorer, Daryl Mitchell for just 4 runs in the match and the batting really fired when we needed it to in our first innings. Basically, a quality job which the boys should be proud of.

We lie 6th in the table, which is a decent, if not awe-inspiring return for the season. There are now just two Championship games left this season and they don't take place until September 9th. so, what's next for the boys?

Most pressingly, we have a crucial final Royal London group game away to Derbyshire on Thursday, a win in which would secure us a home quarter final next week. The semis follow the week after, before the final which splits the remaining two championship fixtures in September. Dare the Jessop Tavern View dream and risk booking Lord's tickets for September 20th? A home quarter would go some way to making the dream a reality, so let's cross our fingers for a convincing win on Thursday.

Professional and patient. Young Gloucestershire look like the real deal.

Gloucestershire beat Worcestershire by 6 wickets.

Living at the other end of the country leaves the Jessop Tavern View with few opportunities to watch the Shire, particularly in the 4 day game. Thus a period of glorious weather and a couple of cheap flights took the Jessop Tavern View down to Cheltenham for the weekend to stake its claim as genuine cricket watchers, rather than grumpy old men who moan about performances analysed through dodgy video clips and cricinfo scorecards.

What the Jessop Tavern View saw was very impressive.

On a dry, flat pitch and under the baking sun Gloucestershires young bowling attack stuck patiently to their task of taking advantage of the 150 run lead they had built up from the innings.

Only 53 runs came before lunch as Gloucestershires seamers stuck manfully to their task of building pressure by drying up the runs. This eventually came to fruition either side of the lunch break as 4 quick wickets fell to a combination of tight bowling and excellent fielding. O'Mish took a very alert catch at short leg to get rid of Moeen Ali, whilst James Fuller produced an excellent piece of ground fielding to run out Alex Kervezee.

Sri Lankan Thilan Samaraweera then demonstrated why he has a test average of almost 50 by helping himself to some elegant shots all round the ground. Any man who presumably spent a considerable portion of his career facing Murali in the nets was unlikely to be troubled by 18 year old Miles Hammond and Samaraweera was particularly harsh on the young off-spinner. Despite a 5th wicket partnership of 109 Glos stuck to their task, bided their time, made sure that the scoring rate never got away from them and then struck with the second new ball. Will Gidman, Craig Miles and James Fuller all bowled wicket taking spells at the end of a long hot day in the field to leave Gloucestershire in a strong position at the end of day 3. Tom Smith then polished Worcestershire's resistance off quickly on the fourth morning leaving Captain Klinger to knock off the 194 runs required for victory with a brisk 92. 194 is potentially a niggly sort of total to chase, but Klinger and Dent got Glos off to the perfect start with an opening stand of 95. These two in particular have enjoyed a bountiful festival opening the batting. Chris Dent was seen with a spade attempting to dig up the Cheltenham square so that he could take it with him.

So, having now seen the boys up close this season what does the Jessop Tavern View make of it all?

In a word, excellent.

Chatting to a wise old sage during yesterdays t20 match it was observed that this Gloucestershire team now look very much like a John Bracewell team. Bracewell is a typical kiwi in that he is very good at making the best of what he has and pulling together a team that it is greater than the sum of its parts. It was a skill that was obviously enormously successful during Bracewell's first stint at the club. Whether he can bring the same sort of silverware to Nevil road during this tenure is unlikely. That side of the late 90's early 00's contained more players of genuine class than this incarnation. However, considering what he has been given to work with, and the enormous financial restraints imposed, King John deserves tremendous credit.

Take for example Middlesex loanee Tom Smith during last weeks match against Worcestershire. Smith is a 25 year old slow left armer who before coming to Gloucestershire had 12 first class wickets at an average of 81 in 5 seasons. Admittedly he approaches the crease looking more like a medium pacer than a spinner, and this may explain his lack of success. Last week Smith took career best figures of 4 for 91 in Worcestershires second innings. Did he spin us to victory? Hardly. But as much as we would love to have a match winning spinner who could turn it square and run through sides it is unlikely that you pick up these sort of bowlers in a mid season loan deal. What Smith did do was bowl tightly and get enough turn to take 4 key wickets. This is pretty much all you can ask your spinner to do during a second innings on a crumbling wicket. It's a very Bracewell induced performance we suspect. Similarly Will Gidman is another player, unwanted at Durham, who has become a very useful performer under King John.

What struck the Jessop Tavern View most all though was the intelligence of the cricket being played by these young bowlers. They all realised the situation and bowled accordingly. Not one of the seamers got frustrated and tried to bowl 'magic' balls. They all ground away knowing that chances would come.

We'll admit we were a little surprise to see this, but surprised in a very good way.

Gloucestershire are quickly approaching a very important August placed 4th in the championship table with fixtures against all 3 of the teams above them (Lancashire, Northants and Essex) remaining. Couple this with crucial YB40 matches against Somerset and all is still very much to play for over the closing couple of months of the season.

Fuller joins the party

Day 1: Worcs 182 v Glos 83 - 0.

The Cheltenham groundsmen continue to sit in their little tent chuckling to themselves. So far this festival has produced an absolute road against Kent in the championship followed by a sticky bunsen in the first t20 match which moved Kaiser Tom to apologise for the state of the pitch. We then had an almost 400 run pitch for the second t20. Thus it was anyone's guess as to what we were going to get for this crucial championship match against third placed Worcestershire.

Gloucestershire's selection suggested they fancied another run friendly match, dropping Dan Housego and bringing in young Miles Hammond to bolster the spin bowling department.

Apparently there was a 'nice green tinge' to the pitch at the toss but this wasn't enough to persuade Worcestershire to contemplate anything other than to bat first. Few would then have expected that by lunch they would be trying to claw there way back from being reduced to 22 for 6.

James Fuller took his first ever hat trick, removing Pardoe, division 2's leading run scorer Moeen Ali, and Alex Kervezee and then Craig Miles took two in two balls to take perfect advantage of the early seam friendly conditions.

You might think that the Jessop Tavern View would be full of praise for such a wonderful start to a vital match. You'd be wrong. With plans in place and flights booked the Jessop Tavern View has plans for catching a bit of days 3 and 4. Thus we cheered every run that Joe Leach and Gareth Andrew scored as they put on 120 for the seventh wicket. From 22 for 6 Glos will probably be a little bit disappointed to let Worcestershire to vaguely recover to 182 all out. Any disappointment was quickly put to bed as Captain Klinger and Chris Dent put on 83 untroubled runs before the close.

James Fuller took a seasons best 5 for 43. Fuller now has 13 wickets at an average of 40 over 6 matches this season. Whilst niggling injuries haven't helped but we really hope that '38' can use this to kick on for the rest of the season. Fuller finished last seasons championship with 24 wickets at 27 and made several 'headline' generating performances in limited overs games. This seemed to mark a watershed for Fuller and the Jessop Tavern View had high hopes that this would be the season that he emerged as a real strike bowler for Gloucestershire. King John has shown good faith with Fuller during his slightly tumultuous time at Nevil road. Injuries haven't helped; we'll cede this point. But now is the time for Fuller to reward this faith.

We're now hoping that Glos can bat through tomorrow leaving the Jessop Tavern View to rock up at Cheltenham on Friday morning, buying themselves an ice cream and then sit back and watch the boys have a slog for the first hour before rolling over Worcestershire in the afternoon.

Enjoy Fuller's hat-trick below:

Richardson runs through the usual suspects

Day 1: Glos 234 v Worcs 65-0.

If we were to ask Gloucestershire fans which two batsmen got themselves into positions to put their team into a commanding position today, only to throw it away, you wouldn't need too many guesses. Hamish O'Marshall and Gidders made 45 and 41 respectively and then perished. Now we'd love to tell you how they perished, but the ECB were so disgusted with O'Mish and Gidders plundering cheap runs against the universities last week that they have refused to post highlights of the first days play. Thus, without any evidence to the contrary we are left to presume that Gidders was bowled by not moving his lumbering feet out of the crease to a full ball that maybe angled in a bit. O'Mish on the other hand was almost certainly caught in the slips driving loosely. Any one going to contradict us? Thought not.

In fairness, having been asked to bat first 234 probably is a par score. It could have been much better when Benny and O'Mish were going well, but it could have been much worse had Alan Richardson not been so old that he could only bowl in short spells.

Effectively there were two games going on today. The one when Richardson was running through us on his way to career best figures of 8 for 37. And the game when Richardson wasn't bowling and Gloucestershire were flogging the rest of Worcestershire's pop gun attack for 5 an over.

Richardson is a man to whom the abject mediocrity of county cricket is tailor-made. He trundles in as fast as his 38 year old legs can carry him and just about manages to propel the ball to the other end. His height gets him a bit of bounce and he nibbles the ball around. Modern day batsman who are unable to cope with anything that isn't straight and full seem bamboozled by someone who can consistently bowl a line and length, and perish. If you want to know how bad modern county cricket is then Richardson is your man. He made his debut in 1995, shuffled around unconvincingly at Derby, Warwickshire and Middlesex before ending up at Worcester. Having been canon fodder for most of his career he then discovered that two tier cricket is great as it condenses all the really really shit players in one division where you can then plunder to your hearts content. Perfect. Incredibly, Richardson then discovered that county cricket is so poor that he could even take 73 wickets in division 1 in 2011 (something that Wisden were so shocked about that they made him one of their cricketers of the year in 2012). This might be slightly unfair on Richardson who is a perfectly nice, honest journeyman.

As a Gloucestershire fan at the moment you could argue he is exactly the sort of bowler Glos could do with in order to allow the youngsters the opportunity to be fast and loose at the other end. However, who really wants to see journeymen pro's still pottering about the outfield as they approach 40. We've said this before, and we'll no doubt say it again (probably many times) but if we are going to be crap, we might as well be crap with a bunch of kids.

Gloucestershires kids were crap at the start of Worcestershire's innings. They now need to have a big first session tomorrow to keep themselves in the game.

What does second in the table really mean?

In county cricket there are several benchmarks to indicate how rubbish you are. Carl Greenidge taking wickets against you, would be one. Jackson Thompson scoring runs against you, would be another. The list is pretty much endless. Somewhere near the top of this list would be allowing Captain Gidman to take 3 for 20 from 8 overs in a CB40 game. Shame on you, Worcestershire.

Yesterday the captain rolled back the years to when he first emerged on the scene as a dashing batsman and handy medium pacer before injury and lethargy took its toll. Gidman got useful support from all the bowlers, and then, despite a little wobble, the batsmen fairly comfortably knocked off the 145 runs needed for victory.

This win takes Glos to the heady heights of second in the CB40 Group A, 2 points behind the Netherlands, but with two games in hand. For the life of us we don't actually know what this means as we haven't got the foggiest about what happens after the group stage concludes. But we presume that this is good.

Judging by the weather forecast, the boys will now get to put their feet up for the next 4 days in preparation for the t20 quarter final against Sussex next week.

*As we felt a little bit guilty about not bothering to look up the CB40 structure, here it is. Rubbish. The top team from each group, along with the best 2nd placed team progress to the semi finals. we can't even be bothered to moan about how completely stupid this format is. For some reason we thought that it had changed for this year. Fat chance. *