Gloucestershire - That Elusive Championship (Story)

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Kent - Away - 2014

Kent	Gloucestershire
S. Northeast	C. Rogers
R. Key (C)	C. Dent (K)
B. Nash	I. Cockbain (C)
A. Blake	H. Marshall
M. Powell	M. Yardy
L. Simmons (K)	K. Lynn
F. Cowdrey	A. Gidman
A. Longrigg	I. Saxelby
M. Coles	D. Payne
M. Davies	L. Norwell
C. Shreck	G. Dockrell*

Past Meetings

2013 - Home - The One Where Runs Were Scored
2013 - Away - The One Where I Won After Following On

I predicted Kent would finish bottom of the Championship this year. Who knows what will actually happen, but having lost their first match to Northants by an innings and 121 runs, I have to say I'm hopeful of a victory here. The pitch looks flat, but I think my bowlers are strong enough to take advantage of that, the seamers having picked up 3 wickets each in our first win, as well as Dockrell's heroics. After an unsuccessful season under Tredwell, the spinner retired for personal reasons, and Rob Key has taken the captaincy back.

We lost the toss and have to bowl as we make no changes from our last side. This is the sort of match we really need to be winning, even on a flat pitch like this.

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The pitch was too flat, but there was a sporting declaration!



They started batting, and despite 2 early wickets, did so really well. Northeast and Blake put on 103 together to be the first very annoying partnership, and even after that had been broken by Norwell, the worst was yet to come. We got the next 3 relatively cheaply to leave them 213/6, but Lendl Simmons, who hadn't hit a century for over a year, smashed that with a brutal 147, supported by regen allrounder Longrigg's maiden FC half century. It was hell for the bowlers, but the pitch and conditions gave them little to work with.

At 44/3, we really were panicking, having lost the opening Chrisses and Marshall cheaply on a pitch we thought was good! There was, of course, no need to panic. Cockbain and Yardy stroked a 211 partnership, including Cockbain's first century of the year, and then Yardy was joined by Lynn, who helped him to my best 5th wicket partnership, 180. Yardy's century was also his first for over a year (I signed him on reputation and my own judgment!), so it was nice to see that a change of scenery may have helped him bat better again. Lynn also made his maiden CC ton, which was very impressive, and at a good rate off 160 balls. When he was out, with the scores level and just over 4 sessions to play, we declared.

Blake has now scored centuries against us in all 3 games he's played us in. I find this unacceptable. He's only made 5 in total in 47 matches and 3 have come in 3 matches against us. Never mind, as mentioned, they set a reasonable target for us, 262 in (what turned out to be) 44 overs.

As it was such a road, we decided to have a go, sending Lynn in at first drop, and then Gidman, with Yardy dropping down to steady in case of collapse! We got as close as could be expected, with Lynn's 76 from 83 balls being particularly impressive, alongside cameos from Dent (37 from 42) and Cockbain (38 from 31). We called off the chase after Yardy was out, needing 40 with 3 overs to play.

Championship State	Due to 4 teams having only played one game, we move up to second behind Northants, who have won two from two so far.
Batting Award	Kieran Lynn - After the first innings I was going to split it in 3, but his great performance at 3 in the second innings gives it to him outright.
Bowling Award	Ian Saxelby - It was tough work on that pitch, and it was somewhere where 6 wickets constitutes a pretty good result!

Note - I like the look of Lynn as an aggressive player. We shall see how that unfolds as we press on!

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Hampshire - Home - 2014

Gloucestershire	Hampshire
C. Rogers	N. McKenzie
C. Dent (K)	H. Maupin
I. Cockbain (C)	A. Wheater (K)
H. Marshall	J. Adams
M. Yardy	M. Carberry
K. Lynn	L. Dawson
A. Gidman	M. Roberts
I. Saxelby	C. Wood
D. Payne	J. Fuller
L. Norwell	D. Briggs
G. Dockrell	J. Tomlinson

Past Meetings

2013 - Home - The One Where We Won!
2013 - Away - The One Where We Couldn't Bowl

Hampshire have started in a similar vein to us, with a win over Sussex and a high scoring draw with Glamorgan giving them 1 point less than us coming into this match. Hampshire are better than I thought they were when I did the preview... Fuller really adds to their bowling, and with the top 5 all averaging over 38 in FC cricket, they aren't going to be gotten rid of cheaply either.

We pick a seamers pitch, mainly due to Briggs' great form, and I predict that the toss will be an important factor in deciding the winner of the game. We pick an unchanged side again, with Dent and Payne the luckiest to keep their places for the time being. Having stated how important the toss will be, we've won it, and chosen to bat first.

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Well... we somehow just got that one out of the bag. It's what we need!



We started poorly once again, the first 3 all falling in the teens, but Marshall and Yardy added a partnership of 76 to make things look a little more respectable, but not enough at 140/4 when Marshall fell. Yardy didn't last too much longer, and Lynn and Gidman made only 15 between them to put us in real trouble at 175/7 with all our batsmen out. We were very grateful to David Payne. He managed a brilliant 71, the second half century of his career, and his highest ever score. Saxelby's 34 and Dockrell's 18* we also could not have done without, with 307 feeling competitive.

We removed both openers to leave them 14/2, but Wheater and Carberry played very strongly together to take them to 188/3, but we managed to rush through the middle and lower orders pretty sharply as we took a lead of 51 runs into the second innings, with an hour left of Day 2.

The batting this time round was just shocking. We squirmed to 25/4, and though Lynn played very well for 43 from 53, everyone else was more than a little bit dire. The tail luckily wagged again, although nothing like as much as last time, and we set them what we thought remained an easy target of 190 to win.

Having got them to 79/5 through 3 more Norwell wickets, we were confident in our abilities. Carberry and Roberts put on 62 together to make things very nervy for us, and at 141/5 with two batsmen still at the crease, we really did fear the worst. Thankfully, Dockrell removed the batsmen in quick succession, and Saxelby took the 3 remaining to finish off the game with 13 runs to spare.

Championship State	We go second, one point behind top and four in front of third. 3 teams with 2 won 1 drawn records.
Batting Award	David Payne - I hate to give this to a bowler who went wicketless in the match, but his 71 really was the standout on a tough pitch!
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - Ended with 9 in the match, a very fine performance. Showed Fuller we don't need him too much!

Mike Yardy's gone and got himself injured for 2 weeks, with Vince out too, so a change is needed there. I may combine that with a change to the bowling, Payne on 5 wickets from 3 matches with the other 3 above 15.

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Surrey - Away - 2014

Surrey	Gloucestershire
S. Davies (K)	C. Rogers
A. Harinath	C. Dent (K)
R. Burns	I. Cockbain (C)
J. Irwin	H. Marshall
J. Roy	K. Lynn
D. Housego	A. Gidman
G. Wilson (C)	P. Thomas
C. Tremlett	E. Young
S. Meaker	I. Saxelby
J. Dernbach	L. Norwell
T. Linley	G. Dockrell

Past Meetings

None!

So... here we go. Surrey have lost 2 of their first 3 matches, and the injuries to Yardy and Vince have put us in a 5-bowler frame of mind. With Payne also struggling, Thomas and Young come in, and between them make up the 7th batsman and 4th bowler between them. Saxelby, Norwell and Dockrell will still be getting more overs as our gun bowlers, though.

They've provided a pitch with a lot of bounce, and in Tremlett, Meaker and Dernbach they certainly have the pace to trouble my top order. This could be a low scoring affair, as my batsmen minus the injured Yardy and the inexperienced Lynn haven't exactly been in prime form, and Surrey not exactly having the best batting line-up in the kingdom, with our 2013 reject Dan Housego having a regular first team spot. They don't have a spinner playing, either.

We win the toss, and bat first. We hope it all goes to plan.

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One of our bigger victories.



We started with a century opening stand in just over the first session, and never really looked back! Rogers (50) and Dent both played well, with Dent the aggressor, and while they and Cockbain were out in a short period of time, Marshall and Lynn combined to put on 121 and take us to 272/3. Marshall had been picking on Jade Dernbach from the moment he got to the crease, clobbering 16 off the first over he bowled to him, and 13 off the one after that! These two and Gidman this time fell quickly, knocking us back to 283/6, but Thomas' determined 67, Young's 60 ball battle and Saxelby's flowing 48 made sure we surpassed our own expectations and passed 400.

Davies, Harinath and Burns made sure that Surrey got off to a great start, but after they'd all been picked up by the spinners, wickets fell at very regular intervals. 6 of them ended up falling to the (so far) quite remarkable Dockrell, his second 5 wicket haul for the club. Norwell also bowled solidly and with a good economy rate for his 2 wickets. Roy played well for Surrey, but in the end ran out of partners, and slashed Norwell straight back to the bowler.

With just over 5 sessions left in the match, our second innings was all about quick runs. We ended up managing 264 from 52 overs, started by the highest opening stand since I took charge, 155 in total! Dent passed 3 figures himself for the first time this summer, and it's nice to see him showing form after I backed him. These two were followed by a series of aggressive cameos, my favourite being Thomas' 22 from only 7 balls, allowing us to declare with a lead of 374 and a bit over an hour left of day 3.

In the end, I need not have bothered with so many extra runs. Harinath went in the first over, and Davies in the third, both to Norwell, Thomas grabbed 2 for 19 and Saxelby bagged a wicket too. Norwell and Dockrell then finished off the tail with a lot of time left! Poor Ed Young, a 4th innings in which he didn't even get to bowl!

Championship State	As the only of the 3 top sides from previously to have played another game, we lead handsomely, albeit with their games in hand! Keep it up!
Batting Award	Chris Dent - Pushed his average this year up from about 12 to 32 in one match!
Bowling Award	George Dockrell - Not needed so much in the second innings, but those 6 in the first set up our big lead.

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Northamptonshire - Away - 2014

Northamptonshire	Gloucestershire
R. Newton	C. Rogers
S. Peters	C. Dent (K)
N. Aylott	I. Cockbain (C)
A. Wakely	H. Marshall
D. Willey	K. Lynn
D. Murphy (K)	A. Gidman
A. Hall	P. Thomas
L. Evans	E. Young
T. Copeland	I. Saxelby
L. Daggett	L. Norwell
Azharullah	G. Dockrell

Past Meetings

2013 - Home - The One Where Marshall Got Us a Draw
2013 - Away - The One Where... Uh... Yeah

So... we come to Northants. Last year, as you see, we managed a draw and a loss against them, but now would be a perfect time to register our first win against the Steelback Salmon. Or Sticklebacks. I never could work out what that picture of a fish was trying to represent. Anyhow, the fish sit 22 points behind us after 2 wins and a draw from 3 matches, and a win for them would take them very close to us with a game still in hand. Can't let that happen! They haven't played a spinner all year, and prepare a pitch that could spin a bit on Day 4. We play the same side, with Ed Young probably the luckiest to keep his place.

We win the toss yet again and choose to bat, with the two spinners looking to help us on the final day of this game. Here's hoping their fairly one-paced attack can be blunted by our aggressive batsmen!

[q felt]

Linking to your previous matches? You're on a whole other level. Another great story mate.

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An awful tactical decision leads to our downfall.



We piled on the runs from the word go. Our opening partnership was our best ever, this time worth a mammoth 207, with both the Chris' attaining centuries in an attacking manner. They fell, but Cockbain picked up the attack, outliving Marshall (1) before Lynn came in and started on the Northants seamers. He ended with 80 from 99 balls before Azharullah bowled him, but we ended all out for 447 from only 112 overs.

We decided to get stuck into them straight away, and we succeeded in that, reducing them to 43/3 in no time at all due to Norwell, with the other seamers getting a run and a couple of wickets each before Norwell polished off the tail like a man especially hungry for freshly uprooted stumps. Then came my mistake. Enforcing the follow on seemed like a great attacking idea at the time, but in reality, batting for a couple of sessions and coming back with our spinners would have been wiser.

Instead, they batted like never before. 3 of the top 4 got centuries, Wakely's 126 only ended by a sharp bouncer, and we had no clue and no plans to bowl well to the guys. They racked up the runs as they rather needed to, went past our lead with only 1 down, and declared with 2 and a half sessions left and 300 runs as a target.

The target really appealed to me, which is always a bad sign, and while we reached 82 only 2 down, the middle order totally failed, and we were left with nothing left and just over a session to defend. We failed.

Championship State	We stay in the lead by 11 points to Lancs, but they and Northants, 12 behind, have a game in hand.
Batting Award	Kieran Lynn - Not the biggest score, but his S/R made sure we grabbed all the batting bonuses.
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - His 6 in the first innings were splendid. No-one did anything in the second.

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Lancashire - Home - 2014

Gloucestershire	Lancashire
C. Rogers	P. Horton
C. Dent (K)	T. Smith
I. Cockbain (C)	G. Roderick (K)
M. Yardy	A. Prince
H. Marshall	S. Croft (C)
K. Lynn	L. Proctor
P. Thomas	A. Agathangelou
I. Saxelby	E. Chigumbura
M. Footitt	K. Hogg
L. Norwell	K. Ali
G. Dockrell	S. Kerrigan

Past Meetings

2013 - Away - The One Where Price Was On The Money.
2013 - Home - (One Of) The Ones We Rushed Through.

Okayyy, Lancs. As you can see, we've beaten them twice in our previous 2 meetings, but I wouldn't say that that made them pushovers! Currently they sit second behind us in the table, having played a game less, so a victory for them would leapfrog us, but a loss would silence them for the time being. We prepare a seamer's pitch in order to try and force a victory, and to that end take out the out of form Gidman and Young, who has done nothing, and replace them with Footitt, who's a bit of a wildcard, and Yardy, who's returned from his injury and now slots in above Marshall. Thomas keeps his place mainly due to his batting.

They do look a strong team all round, and it has to be said that Roderick, the former Gloucs keeper, has been storming it up in the championship this year for his new county. I knew he was good on the game, but I have to pick in terms of what I want... and preferably not have many Kolpaks! Tails again wins us the toss, and in a match looking likely to be ruined by rain on day 4, we bat first.

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We lose our 100% record against Lancs, and with it suffer our first major setback of this promotion challenging season.



We made a bad start through Rogers' duck, and Cockbain getting out on just 13, but Dent attacked and Yardy (36) was solid as they put on 106 together to put us back in a decent position. Dent was out not long after, having deserved a century for his attacking flair, and showing Roderick behind him why he was the man selected. Marshall hit himself out of a bit of a rut with his long-lasting 73, but wickets kept falling at the other end, and though Footitt stuck around for a 42 partnership which dragged us into contention, we managed our 3rd batting point due to 5 runs from George Dockrell!

Norwell and Thomas came out of the blocks firing, and managed to take 5 wickets between them as we reduced them to 137/6, putting us well in control. Unfortunately for us, Prince was still in, and added 90 with Chigumbura, and even when he got out, Hogg joined him and they added enough runs to take Lancs just beyond our first innings total.

Our second innings was where it all went wrong though, really. It started okay as the top 3 took us to 89/1, but after that Yardy was the only one to find the bowling easy to deal with. We went from 167/4 to 221 all out, and thought we maybe had a tiny chance on what was a tough pitch.

Unfortunately, they utterly thrashed those runs off, and I have no idea how. I'm just going to put it down to a combination of poor bowling and good batting.

Championship State	With that loss, we fall to second, and third placed Northants are 11 points behind with a game in hand.
Batting Award	Chris Dent - An elegant player, really showed his class in this match.
Bowling Award	None - No-one stood out in the first innings that much, and the second was awful.

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Sussex - Away - 2014

Sussex	Gloucestershire
L. Wells	H. Rutherford
C. Nash	C. Dent (K)
M. Prior (K)	I. Cockbain (C)
E. Joyce (C)	R. ten Doeschate
J. Denly	M. Yardy
L. Wright	H. Marshall
R. Hamilton-Brown	K. Lynn
C. Jordan	I. Saxelby
L. Hatchett	D. Payne
M. Panesar	L. Norwell
A. Miller	G. Dockrell

Past Meetings

None!

So the IPL players are back, for both us and Sussex, who add Luke Wright to their strong batting order. For us it means the straight swap of Rutherford in for Rogers, who's scored 411 runs in his 6 matches with us, and Ryan ten Doeschate replacing Peter Thomas and likely to bat at 4. Payne comes back in for the very expensive Footitt and the bottom 4 will bowl most of the overs, with Tendo as an extra option. Despite my building them up in the preview, Sussex have struggled this year, and whilst their batting line up looks brilliant on paper, it hasn't been hitting too many runs! They've prepared what can only be described as a result pitch, and we will be hoping it's positive for us.

That top 7 frightens me. Unfortunately, we have lost the toss and have to bowl at them first on a sunny day in Hove... we hope the pitch offers as much as it looks like it will!

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Not often you've got all four results possible going into the last over...



We got Wells with the second ball of the match, but Sussex recovered through their powerful middle order as 50s for Joyce, Denly and Wright, and a 42 for Prior brought them on top in the game. RHB and Jordan chipped in with runs of their own, and even Hatchett made 27 as Sussex kept punishing us. As a saving grace, Payne took the last 2 wickets for 1 run, and we stopped them getting their 5th batting bonus point.

We also batted well though, on a pitch I'd expected to be tough! All the top 7 got starts, but it was the half centuries from Marshall and Cockbain, the stodgy 34 of Yardy and the phenomenal 198, the highest score in this career, for Ryan ten Doeschate on début, that took us past their total. Tendo only hit one century for Essex in the Championship last year, and no 50s, so taking him on was a gamble, but a guy with such class was never going to be kept down for long. His 198 came from 281 balls, and his only disappointment can be due to failing to make a double. The tail fell quickly, and we were 56 in front.

We came out roaring in the second innings, as the seamers all took wickets as we got rid of the top 4 to leave Sussex 55/4. Wright stayed around with Denly a while, but soon both he and RHB fell to leave them 114/6. The next partnership though, between Denly and Jordan and worth 138 runs, changed the tide of the match and put Sussex in with a real chance of a victory. The last 4 wickets fell in pretty quick time, and at 270 all out, we thought 215 was a chaseable total in exactly 2 sessions.

At 44/4, we were less sure. We took things more steadily as ex-Sussex man Yardy and 35 year old Marshall started to play well together, and eventually that partnership was worth 133 and took us within 40 of our victory target with 40 minutes left of the match. Yardy fell, and Lynn followed quickly, leaving Marshall and the bowlers to get us across the line. Marshall and Saxelby put on 23 pretty safely, but Ian got out and Payne did too. We needed 7 from the final over, to be bowled by Monty. Single. Single. Marshall plays and misses. Marshall is caught behind. Dockrell is bowled first ball. We lose by 4 runs.

Championship State	Ouch. Skipping forward to before our next match, we fall into third, 6 points between second placed Northants who still have a game in hand. Lancs are miles away at the top.
Batting Award	Ryan ten Doeschate - A decent début innings for the dutchman, and was only run out in the second innings.
Bowling Award	Ian Saxelby - Big wickets at big moments, and 7 of them to boot.

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Surrey - Home - 2014

Gloucestershire	Surrey
T. Price	S. Davies (K)
C. Dent (K)	A. Harinath
I. Cockbain (C)	R. Burns
R. ten Doeschate	J. Irwin
M. Yardy	J. Roy
H. Marshall	D. Housego
K. Lynn	G. Wilson (C)
I. Saxelby	C. Tremlett
D. Payne	S. Meaker
L. Norwell	J. Dernbach
G. Dockrell	T. Linley

Past Meetings

2014 - Away - The One Where We Dent-ed Them.

Unfortunately for our chances, New Zealand and Australia have simultaneously scheduled tours for the next month, and depending on how many Australia squads Chris Rogers gets in, we could be without an overseas player for both matches before the T20 break. We certainly miss one from this first match, although it does give a chance to Tom Price, as the 22 year old opener makes his first Championship appearance of the season, after being an ever-present last year.

Surrey have only won one of their first six games, which included that thrashing by us earlier in the season. They haven't played a spinner all season, and with their strong pace attack we prepared a spinner's pitch for George Dockrell. The bad news for that is that we've lost the toss and must bowl first. With no rain forecast, it could be interesting.

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Another spectacular victory.



We felt we were removing Surrey batsmen pretty regularly in their first innings, and had them 170/5 halfway through the afternoon session of day 1. Wilson proved a stumbling block though. Burns and he put on 91 to start with, and then he built 42 and 73 (!) partnerships with Tremlett and Meaker respectively. Even after he was out, our bowlers toiled, and the last wicket between Dernbach and Linley was worth another 45 very frustrating runs.

Our reply was... somewhat poor. After Dent fell for a duck, we did okay, with Price getting 39 and Cockbain 44 as we pushed toward the 100 mark. Yardy failed for 1, but Tendo and Hamish put on 96 to drag us out of the mire a bit, and leave us 193/4 looking to avoid the follow on. Unfortunately, the last 6 wickets fell for 39 runs as the lower order caved under the pressure, and we did have to follow on.

Thankfully, this time went much better. It started much the same as Dent departed for 8, but Price made a quick-ish 62 and Cockbain looked solid as we started to build. The next partnership was worth 213 runs, and put us well in front of the Surrey side. Cockbain rotated the strike well, and Tendo was his usual destructive self, hitting 18 fours in his 122, his second century in his second match for us. When he was LBW to occasional leg spinner Housego, Cockbain took up the attack, and he and Lynn made sure we were in position to try for a win as we declared with 2 sessions to go, 261 ahead.

After we grabbed a couple of early wickets, Burns and Irwin looked set to scupper our dreams with a ferocious hundred partnership. They smashed all our bowling everywhere, but Dockrell removed both in very quick succession and opened the floodgates. Then, Norwell took control. He took 5 of the remaining 6 wickets, 3 of them bowled, as the last 4 wickets fell for 11 in a fantastic victory!

Championship State	A very necessary victory for us, as we stay in second, all of 43 points behind Lancs in first, but 6 points ahead of Northants who have a game in hand on us.
Batting Award	Ryan ten Doeschate - Another great century, and a half in the first innings that held us together.
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - Did nothing in the first innings, but without that 7/74 we were goners.