Gloucestershire under GrahamB (story)

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 7

We were asked to bowl first and Kent put up a respectable total. Things weren't looking good for us early on in the chase, but young Ben Charlesworth fired things up with some well-timed aggression, while the Aussie veteran, Michael Klinger, played a great supporting role.


Kent - 153/8 (H.Rodgers-63, D.Stevens-48no, G.van Buuren-4/14)

Gloucestershire - 155/6 (M.Klinger-47no, B.Charlesworth-40no)

Win to Gloucestershire by 4 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 6

Again not enough runs. I can see why Gloucestershire's batting is the lowest rated amongst the counties.


Gloucestershire - 131/8 (T.Hellawell-38)

Sussex - 134/5 (P.Salt-49)

Win to Sussex by 5 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 5

Not enough runs this time to stop the Essex juggernaut.


Gloucestershire - 139/5 (M.Klinger-43no, G.Roderick-40, F.Tunnicliff-39)

Essex - 143/4 (F.Zaman-71)

Win to Essex by 6 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 4

Finally a win! Revenge against Glamorgan.


Gloucestershire - 134 (B.Howell-69, G.Wagg-4/31)

Glamorgan - 97 (G.Wagg-32, S.Whittingham-4/20, D.Payne-3/19)

Win to Gloucestershire by 37 runs.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 3

Getting better. Sadly, their number 11 batsman, Jamie Porter hit the final ball of the innings for 4.


Gloucestershire - 157 (B.Howell-77, J.Porter-4/16, S.Cook-3/24)

Essex - 161/9 (B.Wheater-52, F.Zaman-37, R.Higgins-3/27, B.Howell-3/28)

Win to Essex by 1 wicket.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 2

Gloucestershire - 118/8 (G.van Buuren-37no)

Middlesex - 119/4 (E.Morgan-54no, A.Hunt-50no)

Win to Middlesex by 6 wickets.

[GrahamB]

Going into ten straight T20 games, we've been hit by an injury to Miles Hammond, one of our best performing batsmen.
Life is going to be tough for a few weeks!

[GrahamB]

We were beaten fair and Square by Worcestershire, who had to chase a sizable victory target under very difficult conditions.

The visitors took their option of choosing to bowl first.
Initially Miles Hammond held things together well, but his dismissal sparked a collapse that left us at 150/6. It was mainly due to the efforts of Ian Cockbain and Jack Taylor that enabled us to recover and post a good total.

Brett D'Oliviera and Moeen Ali were the main contributors, as Worcestershire struggled through to a disappointing reply.

With a first innings lead of 118, and despite the weather conditions deteriorating further, we were well in the box seat.
However, superb bowling under the very cloudy skies from Joe Leach and Josh Tongue reduced our innings to tatters at 26/6!
Fortunately Jack Taylor stopped the rot, and with support from Cockbain and Higgins, he saw us through to 163 all out.

Worcestershire needed 283 to win under atrocious conditions, and we were rightly confident of victory.
Then Daryl Mitchell and Callum Ferguson blunted our bowling attack to take their side to 150/3. Any hopes that we still had left were then taken away by a classy knock from Oliver Westbury, who with support from others took his side to an impressive win.


Gloucestershire - 325 (I.Cockbain-69, R.Higgins-65no, M.Hammond-55, E.Barnard-4/89, P.Brown-3/45)

Worcestershire - 207 (B.D'Oliviera-75, R.Higgins-4/26, D.Worrall-3/41)

Gloucestershire - 163 (J.Taylor-80no, J.Tongue-4/39)

Worcestershire - 283/5 (C.Ferguson-78, O.Westbury-75no, D.Worrall-3/74)

Win to Worcestershire by 5 wickets.

[GrahamB]

We have a catch-up FC match to play, home against Worcestershire.

Unsettled/very cloudy/rainy weather is expected, so Benny Howell comes back in as fourth seamer, while Chris Dent has been given back the captaincy.


Gloucestershire: M.Hammond, C.Dent (captain), B.Howell, G.Roderick (wk), G.van Buuren, T.Hellawell, I.Cockbain, J.Taylor, R.Higgins, D.Payne, D.Worrall.

[GrahamB]

T20 Game 1

Not the best start. Still learning.


Glamorgan - 164/6 (A.Brine-48no, S.Marsh-30, R.Higgins-3/32)

Gloucestershire - 138 (M.Hammond-48, G.Wagg-3/27, B.Root-3/29)

Win to Glamorgan by 26 runs.

[MarksNotts]

Higgins stats look excellent, especially his bowling, I'd give him a season of Batting Tech training and I reckon you will have a very good All-Rounder on your hands.

[GrahamB]

Next up is our first T20 game.

[GrahamB]

We batted first against visiting Leicestershire and when we'd crumbled to 158/8, I thought, "Oh no. Here we go again!"
Then Ian Cockbain and David Payne put together 139 runs for the ninth wicket to help us get to 297 all out.

The visitors were similarly precariously placed at 46/4 and then 122/6, before a partnership of 84 between Arron Lilley and Gavin Griffiths was instrumental in seeing that their side only conceded a first innings deficit of 42 runs.

We now had to bat through the most difficult conditions of the match on Day 3, with very cloudy conditions and then the wicket taking sharp turn.
We probably declared later than we needed to, but I wasn't prepared to see a possible two straight losses.

Leicestershire had over two sessions to survive, and they played very carefully.
Although our bowlers kept chipping away and taking wickets, it looked as though our opponents would hold on for the draw.
As our key spinner, Graeme van Buuren needed a break, we gave the ball to part-time spinner James Taylor. In his first four overs he took two wickets and was entrusted with bowling the final over in the match, with just one wicket left to fall.
Imagine our joy when he trapped Mohammad Abbas in front with the first ball to wrap things up!


Gloucestershire - 297 (I.Cockbain-81, D.Wayne-63, D.Klein-5/96)

Leicestershire - 255 (A.Lilley-81, G.Griffiths-68, D.Worrall-4/67, D.Payne-3/66, R.Higgins-3/71)

Gloucestershire - 283/4 declared (M.Hammond-131no, T.Hellawell-74no)

Leicestershire - 135 (J.Taylor-3/8, R.Higgins-3/32)

Gloucestershire win by 190 runs.

[GrahamB]

Look forward to my morning read of your story Graham, How has Ryan Higgins performed with bat and ball? Also I'm curious about young seamer Matt Taylor, IRL he took 50 wickets at 23 last season.

I've not tried Matt Taylor at all, as his second team form hasn't warranted it.

Ryan Higgins has been outstanding -

[MarksNotts]

Look forward to my morning read of your story Graham, How has Ryan Higgins performed with bat and ball? Also I'm curious about young seamer Matt Taylor, IRL he took 50 wickets at 23 last season.