Gloucestershire under GrahamB (story)

[GrahamB]

Derbyshire have unearthed a talented young opening batsman by the name of Aaron Supple.
In his debut match he scored two half centuries and in this match (just his second), he looked very classy in scoring his maiden first class century.
The Derbyshire top five is very good now, and with Leus du Plooy and George Warner providing good support for Supple, they posted a useful 333 all out.
Oliver Robinson was again the pick of our bowlers, taking 5/89. It is real concern that Ryan Higgins and Ferisco Adams seem to be out of form.

Miles Hammond and Benny Howell got our reply off to a good start, and then later in the innings, Gareth Roderick and Adams played their part in getting us through to 276 all out.
Logan van Beek impressed for the home side with figures of 5/84, while Ravi Rampaul ably assisted with 3/38.

With a lead of 57, Derbyshire would be looking for a declaration at some stage to put us under pressure on the final day.
However our bowlers were very tight, and despite good knocks from Billy Godelman, Wayne Madsen, du Plooy and Warner, could only muster 253/7 before declaring and leaving us 310 to chase for victory.
Robinson again stood out with 3/62.

What Derbyshire had failed to take into account was the expected wet weather, so with 3 hours lost to rain on Day 4, there was no real opportunity for either side to win.


Derbyshire - 333 (A.Supple-131, O.Robinson-5/89)

Gloucestershire - 276 (G.Roderick-67, M.Hammond-52, L.van Beek-5/84, R.Rampaul-3/38)

Derbyshire - 253/7 declared (G.Warner-70no, B.Godelman-65, O.Robinson-3/62)

Gloucestershire - 63/2

Match drawn.


Still third on the points table with three FC games remaining later in the season.

[GrahamB]

FC Match 11 - Away v Derbyshire

Our T20 campaign is interrupted by a first class encounter at Derbyshire.
Graeme van Buuren will be wanting a strong finish to the season, as his contract renewal is on the line!


Gloucestershire

M.Hammond
B.Howell
I.Cockbain (capt)
G.van Buuren
T.Hellawell
A.Hunt
G.Roderick (wk)
F.Adams
R.Higgins
O.Robinson
M.Watt


Derbyshire

B.Godelman
A.Supple
W.Madsen
L.du Plooy
G.Warner
C.MacLeod
H.Hosein (wk)
L.van Beek
S.Sharif
R.Rampaul
H.Qadri


We have lost the toss and will be in the field.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 11

Another heartbreaker!

Having put Somerset in to bat, they proceeded to pile on 186/3, thanks to an anchoring knock of 86no from Ben Duckett and a nice half century from Angelo Mathews.

Following the early dismissal of Miles Hammond, a big second wicket partnership between Benny Howell and Ian Cockbain got us on track to pursue the win.
Cockbain played a fine captain's innings of 69no and with a few overs to go, aall looked great, especially as we bat down to Ryan Higgins at number 10.
And then a late collapse to see defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.


Somerset - 186/3 (B.Duckett-86no, A.Mathews-60)

Gloucestershire - 169 (I.Cockbain-69no, B.Howell-46, J.Overton-3/36, R.van der Merwe-3/36, L.Gregory-3/37)

Win to Somerset by 17 runs.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 10

We felt the need to rest three of our front-line players for this match, so it was always going to be a tough challenge.
Ian Cockbain, Gareth Roderick and Ryan Higgins made way for Lawrence Connelly, James Bracey and Matt Taylor.
Graeme van Buuren has recovered from injury, but requires another game off to be fully match fit.
Chris Dent took the captaincy reins for the game.

We asked Hampshire to bat first and thanks to an aggressive 87no from Sam Northeast and a more sedate 37 from opener James Vince, they posted a good score of 156/7.

Considering the circumstances, we were happy with that, but when we were 70/6, it looked far out of reach.
However, the determination of Bracey, Benny Howell and Ferisco Adams saw us fall just short in the end.


Hampshire - 156/3 (S.Northeast-87no, J.Vince-37)

Gloucestershire - 151/7 (B.Howell-40no, J.Bracey-32, F.Adams-31)

Win to Hampshire by 6 runs.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 9

Back down to earth at the hands of Middlesex.

After being asked to bat first, we lost a couple of quick wickets and were always on the back foot from that point on.
Although all of the Middlesex bowlers were dangerous, Ethan Bamber picked up the best figures with 3/21.

Marco Marais and Stevie Eskinazi got the chase off to a flier, and then once both were gone, Rohit Sharma came to life to see Middlesex home.


Gloucestershire - 130/9 (T.Hellawell-33, E.Bamber-3/21)

Middlesex - 131/3 (R.Sharma-39no, S.Eskinazi-33)

Win to Middlesex by 7 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 8

A mighty win against Surrey!

We put the home side in to bat, and despite a rollicking start from the two openers, none of the batsmen were able to get settled.
Ferisco Adams and Stu Whittingham captured four wickets each, with Whittingham being particularly impressive.

In reply, Miles Hammond led the chase brilliantly, finishing unbeaten on a career best T20 score of 83no.
Youth promotee Lawrence Connelly hit back to back boundaries in the 19th over to secure the win.


Surrey - 151 (O.Pope-30, S.Whittingham-4/14, F.Adams-4/30)

Gloucestershire - 153/3 (M.Hammond-83no)

Win to Gloucestershire by 7 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 7

Whoa!
We cut this one fine, with tail-ender Mark Watt having to hit a 6 off the first ball he faced, which also happened to be the final ball of the 20th over!
Earlier, Daniel Bell-Drummond had gone nuts against our bowling, smashing 81 off 41 deliveries. Fortunately we were able to pull things back a little following his dismissal, but it was still a tough challenge for us..


Kent - 166/7 (D.Bell-Drummond-81, S.Billing-39)

Gloucestershire - 168/8 (A.Hunt-32)

Win to Gloucestershire by 2 wickets.


Here is the points table at the halfway stage:

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 6

Sadly, I suspect that a really poor umpiring decision probably cost us this match.
Before Sam Bishop reached double figures, a full ball from Mark Watt was clearly going to hit leg stump plumb.
The umpire shook his head and the young man went on to play the match-winning innings.


Gloucestershire - 132/8

Sussex - 133/4 (S.Bishop-56, D.Potgieter-52no)

Win to Sussex by 6 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 5

We took the opportunity to bowl first and it paid off, as making early inroads certainly had an influence on the Essex scoring rate.
Benny Howell showed his useful all-round skills in the shorter forms of the game, taking 3/17.
We didn't muck around in our chase. Miles Hammond anchored the innings with an unbeaten half century, as we achieved victory in the 15th over.


Essex - 113/9 (B.Howell-3/17)

Gloucestershire - 115/5 (M.Hammond-59no)

Win to Gloucestershire by 5 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 4

Losing three wickets to Marchant de Lange in the second over of the innings set us back on our heels somewhat, but we recovered to score 137/7.
Again not enough runs though, especially when you've got both Colin Ingram and Angelo Perera in a rampant mood.


Gloucestershire - 137/7 (G.Roderick-40no, A.Hunt-31, M.de Lange-4/20)

Glamorgan - 140/5 (C.Ingram-53, A.Perera-43)

Win to Glamorgan by 5 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 3

We found it a struggle to post 132/6, but in reply Essex paced their chase nicely.
Despite a late collapse, they achieved victory in the 18th over.


Gloucestershire - 132/6 (M.Coles-3/19)

Essex - 133/8 (A.Wheater-32, R.Bopara-32, B.Howell-3/26)

Win to Essex by 2 wickets.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 2

Rohit Sharma and Paul Stirling got Middlesex off to a ripsnorting start, then Dawid Malan took over, as the visitors raced out to 174/6.
Despite a spirited knock from Tom Hellawell, our batsmen were unable to get on top of the bowling attack, and we fell well short.


Middlesex - 174/6 (D.Malan-62no, R.Sharma-38, P.Stirling-31)

Gloucestershire - 141/9 (T.Hellawell-67, R.Topley-3/36)

Win to Middlesex by 33 runs.

[GrahamB]

T20 Match 1

Having scored 180/4, we were pretty confident of winning.
However, led by Colin Ingram hitting 5 sixes in a rapid-fire 48, we were concerned.
It was Ryan Higgins who turned things around not only with three quick wickets - Billy Root, Ingram and Chris Cooke.


Gloucestershire - 180/4 (M.Hammond-63, T.Hellawell-47, B.Howell-43)

Glamorgan - 157 (C.Ingram-48, R.Higgins-4/23)

Win to Gloucestershire by 23 runs.

[GrahamB]

Now for the T20 competition.

[GrahamB]

The match against top placed Leicestershire was a disaster for us, but due to other results helping out, we're still handily placed just below second on the points table.

Asking the home side to bat first didn't exactly work out as planned, with a whole session lost to rain on Day 1, plus a magnificent innings of 185 from Colin Ackermann.
Leicestershire ended up with 384 all out, an imposing total considering the unsettled/cloudy/very cloudy conditions expected for the duration of the game.
Whilst Ackermann stood out like a beacon amongst the batsmen, Oliver Robinson was a real handful and finished with the superb figures of 7/86.

We got off to a poor start and our situation was made even more difficult when Graeme van Buuren was struck a nasty blow from the second ball he faced and had to retire hurt. A batsman down for both innings!
Anthony Hunt stood firm with an unbeaten half century, but there was little else to enthuse about, as we crumbled to be all out for 166.

Forced to follow on, we didn't fare much better in our second innings.
Ian Cockbain put up some resistance and Ferisco Adams scored 50, but we fell short of making Leicestershire bat again.
Gavin Griffiths was the most successful of the bowlers with 4/56.


Leicestershire - 384 (C.Ackermann-185, O.Robinson-7/56)

Gloucestershire - 166 (A.Hunt-53no)

Gloucestershire (following on) - 186 (F.Adams-50, G.Griffiths-4/56)

Win to Leicestershire by an innings and 32 runs.


The division is very competitive, as you can see: