Gloucestershire under GrahamB (story)

[Chris Child]

Great story Graham.

[GrahamB]

Back to the FC competition. Our second match was a visit to Glamorgan.

Our playing eleven: M.Hammond, C.Dent, G.Roderick (wk and captain), T.Hellawell, G.van Buuren, J.Taylor, I.Cockbain, R.Higgins, H.Hankins, D.Worrall, S.Whittingham.

We lost the toss and the home side were able to make use of the best batting conditions.
After Shaun Marsh was dropped in the first over, he and Jeremy Lawlor put on 158 for the opening stand. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the match, as we were forced to play catch up from then on.

After adding to their first innings lead, Glamorgan made a sporting declaration, but on a deteriorating wicket, the target of 368 was too much for us.
We came close to holding on for a draw, but the second new ball midway through the final session of the match was decisive.


Glamorgan - 433 (C.Meschede-105no, S.Marsh-93, S.Whittingham-4/92, D.Worrall-3/78)

Gloucestershire - 298 (T.Hellawell-75, G.Roderick-67, J.Taylor-55, M.Hogan-3/27)

Glamorgan - 232/8 declared (B.Root-93, S.Marsh-64, D.Worrall-5/52)

Gloucestershire - 264 (M.Hammond-51, T.Hellawell-51, T.van der Gugten-4/60)

[GrahamB]

In our final OD group game, we had to bowl first against Essex.

Led by a superb century from Alastair Cook, plus a swashbuckling knock from Ryan ten Doeschate, our opponents went past 300.

In response, we were reduced to 30/6, before Tom Hellawell and Ryan Higgins saved us from total disgrace. Still a big loss though!


Essex - 308/9 (A.Cook-116, R.ten Doeschate-61, D.Worrall-4/60, H.Hankins-4/67)

Gloucestershire - 139 (R.Higgins-50, J.Porter-5/29)

[GrahamB]

Batting first, we got off to a good start to our OD match against Sussex, but the overhead conditions turned nasty and so did our fortunes, as we struggled for runs. David Weise was just unplayable and almost single-handedly destroyed us.

Our total could still have proved challenging, but the cloud cover lifted again and anchored by a nice innings from Laurie Evans, Sussex coasted home.


Gloucestershire - 187 (C.Dent-58, D.Wiese-5/12)

Sussex - 191/5 (L.Evans-89no, R.Higgins-3/68)

[GrahamB]

Our next OD match was against a struggling Glamorgan side.
To take some pressure off Chris Dent, who has been in poor form so far this season, Gareth Roderick took over the captaincy role.

We batted first and put up what looked like it should be a winning score, Miles Hammond displaying his burgeoning potential with his maiden OD century.

However, Glamorgan were always in the hunt and we were a little worried until Benny Howell sparked a lower order demise.
Howell finished with career best figures.


Gloucestershire - 290/5 (M.Hammond-129, G.Hankins-65, C.Dent-53)

Glamorgan - 243 (J.Lawlor-64, J.Murphy-55, B.Howell-5/40)

[Heisenberg]

Be interesting to see how James Bracey develops. He is a great young talent in real life.

[GrahamB]

Our next OD match was a real thriller!

Batting first, we were in real trouble before Gareth Roderick and Jack Taylor put together a record stand to help us through to a respectable total.

Somerset were likewise in a real spot of bother before Lewis Gregory came in at number 8 and smashed a quickfire half-century to get his side back in contention.
With Ian Pickering playing a guiding hand, it looked for sure as though they'd steal the win, but in a dramatic finish, he was run out to leave the match tied.


Gloucestershire - 264/7 (G.Roderick-115no, J.Taylor-108, C.Overton-3/46)

Somerset - 264 (L.Pickering-62, L.Gregory-62)

[GrahamB]

Back down to earth with a bump against Hampshire.

The Hampshire top order put our bowlers to the sword, as they amassed a big score.
In reply, we kept losing wickets as we tried not to let the required run rate get too far out of range. A late collapse made things look worse.
Now 1 win, 3 losses.


Hampshire - 308/5 (S.Northeast-78, T.Alsop-68, R.Rossouw-62)

Gloucestershire - 204 (M.Hammond-56, G.Hankins-53, K.Barker-4/26, B.Rankin-4/72)

[GrahamB]

Finally success in the OD competition!

We won the toss and put Kent in to bat.
Using a new bowling strategy, we bowled them out for a low score.
When we batted, the conditions turned very cloudy, but we adopted a positive approach rather than a cautious one (keeping our competition run rate in mind).


Kent - 152 (T.Hellawell-3/23)

Gloucestershire - 156/5 (G.Roderick-55no, B.McCarthy-4/20)

[GrahamB]

It doesn't get any easier for us in the OD competition, as we travel to Middlesex for our second match.

We got put into bat and struggled to get any momentum going at all. Our total was never likely to be enough and so it proved.


Gloucestershire - 158 (E.Bamber-3/33)

Middlesex - 162/4

[GrahamB]

Our first OD match was against the strong Surrey side.

We looked as though we might get a score approaching 300, but we struggled towards the end of our innings due to some tight bowling.
Then a rampant partnership between Stoneman and Clarke took any winning hopes that we may have had out of our grasp.


Gloucestershire - 262/6 (B.Howell-71)

Surrey - 263/6 (R.Clarke-97, M.Stoneman-85)

[GrahamB]

Higgins was one of my favourite English players on CC19.

Being a RM, as soon as that good ol' English cloud cover hits let him loose!

And also very handy lower order player! Good luck

Thanks.

[bryce87]

Higgins was one of my favourite English players on CC18.

Being a RM, as soon as that good ol' English cloud cover hits let him loose!

And also very handy lower order player! Good luck

[GrahamB]

Our first County Championship Division 2 clash was against Derbyshire.

Gloucestershire playing eleven for the FC match against Derbyshire - C.Dent (capt), M.Hammond, G.Roderick (wk), J.Bracey, T.Hellawell, G.van Buuren, J.Tayor, I.Cockbain, R.Higgins, D.Payne, D.Worrall.

We did well to restrict Debyshire to a lowish first innings total, and then procedded to build a decent lead.
However, the visitors dug in during their second turn at bat and were eventually able to declare.
We initially set out with chasing the victory target in mind, but the loss of quick wickets made us abandon that idea and play for the draw


Derbyshire - 236 all out (L.du Plooy-89no, R.Higgins-4/32, D.Worrall-3/64, G.van Buuren-3/94)

Gloucestershire - 340 all out (J.Taylor-76, T.Hellawell-72, G.Roderick-54, T.Palladino-4/60, S.Sharif-3/55)

Derbyshire - 307/5 declared (L.du Plooy-98no, C.MacLeod-64, D.Smit-57)

Gloucestershire - 111/4 (T.Hellawell-40)

Match drawn.

[GrahamB]

Quite difficult this season, they lost their 2 main seamers Miles and Norwell to Warwickshire last season, although Higgins and Bracey look great prospects and Dent is always goods for runs.
Good luck Graham.

Cheers.