Gloucestershire - That Elusive Championship (Story)

[Imager36]

Cheers DVDDD, now to hope for a really great season!

Forget the preview this season, bearing in mind my poor predictions last year! Essex and Derbyshire are the teams relegated from the first division, and Essex having added Phil Jacques to their strong batting line up will probably be favourites for the title. We shall aim, once more, to gain promotion. If we don't this time, I'll have to consider my position.

Let's not let that happen! First up comes our match at Bristol against Cardiff University. Our team looks like this...

C. Nash
C. Dent (C)
T. Price
J. Irwin
W. Porter (K)
K. Lynn
J. Vince
P. Thomas
E. Young
R. Norris
D. Payne

It's an experimental eleven, of course. Gidman and Herring are the only men who don't play who we don't expect to play a large part in the campaign. Norwell, Dockrell and Saxelby are likely to be our 3 main bowlers, with whichever of our overseas players is available. Our opening partnership, Nash and Dent, get to have their first go together, while we only really play 3 and a half bowlers! Considering that, it didn't go too badly.

• Nash made over 100 runs, and did well for himself.
• Porter and Irwin both got second innings 50s.
• The bowlers all did well, but Norris' second innings 6 will keep him in the team for the first match.

Also this year, due to me getting fed up of being in Division 2, I'm not going to do a dedicated preview post, just a paragraph or so on the end of the previous match's post. Our first match is away at Surrey, so here we go! To start with, these are the teams...

Surrey	Gloucestershire
S. Davies	C. Nash
A. Harinath	C. Dent (K)
K. Pietersen	I. Cockbain (C)
R. Burns	R. ten Doeschate
J. Roy	J. Irwin
J. Mansfield	M. Yardy
D. Housego	P. Thomas
G. Wilson (C)	R. Norris
S. Meaker	I. Saxelby
T. Linley	L. Norwell
G. Edwards	G. Dockrell

Having stupidly failed to play a match yet, we sit bottom of Division 2, with Surrey in second after they thrashed Hampshire. Pietersen playing is, of course, a massive boost for them, and they do look like they've got a lot of runs in them. It looks a side light on bowling, with only 3 seamers and no spinners, but Steve Davies got a century in their first match, so all in all, most of what Surrey offer us is pain. With that in mind, we were pleased to bat first when we won the toss.

[Imager36]

A fairly regulation win.



We had a couple of decent partnerships to start with, both including Nash, who started his new life with a 46, and starts for Ian and Dent. Irwin went for a first ball duck though, and Yardy only made 4 to leave us in a hole at 111/5. Thankfully, Thomas continued his work from last season of rescuing us, and Tendo started in the best possible way. They were together for a total 247 runs, higher than either of Surrey's innings, and though Peter Thomas slept after the first day on 99*, he hit his first ball the next morning for four to confirm his maiden championship ton. He was out soon after, and the innings was after before too much longer, but the damage had really been done by two high class innings.

Norris grabbed the wickets of Harinath and Pietersen early to set the ball rolling, but the keepers, Burns and Davies, really stopped our charge for a while. Luckily, after Davies got out stumped, Roy and Mansfield also gave up their wickets, and we pressed home our advantage to bowl them out for only 231. We considered the follow-on a bit of a stupid idea with 7 sessions left, but, flattered by the choice, enforced it anyway.

It turned out to be a good decision! The seamers buttered up Surrey with a wicket each, and then Dockrell ran through all the rest to leave us only 11 runs to score to win. I didn't really think the pitch would turn much, but he kept taking wickets, which is rather what we like to see.

We had 3 overs before tea on the third day, and with Nash batting out a maiden for the third, had to come back for one ball after it to secure our final run!

Championship State	So far, so good. 1 played, 23 points in the bag.
Batting Award	Thomas/ten Doeschate - Both deserve awards, it was a phenomenal partnership and we're proud of their efforts!
Bowling Award	George Dockrell - Simply for the way he ran through them in the second innings!

Our next match is against Essex, at Chelmsford! We make just the one change, as Sheldon Cotterrell comes back from the West Indies Test team having not played, and is put in instead of the solid Saxelby, as we feel Norris has real potential. In the seconds, only Tom Price made an impression in the first match with a century. Essex have played one match so far this year and were beaten in it by Derbyshire. Phil Jaques is a dangerous player who we'll have to keep a watchful eye on, as well as their bowling, led by the old pro David Masters and young pup Rhys Topley. Will Gidman does not play in their side this time out.

We call wrong, and must bowl first on a cloudy day.

[Imager36]

A placid pitch and a dull game.



This is why we make our pitches decent, cricket fans. This one played out more like a dustbowl track, although spin was lacking too. Even with that said, the first partnership of the match, 347 runs, which only stopped when Browne retired hurt, was an amazing feat. We never really had that many chances throughout it, and whilst we really did bowl okay, there was very little that could be done to stop them. Even after all that, to add insult to injury, Foster added another ton in double quick time before Norwell knocked over all his partners very easily.

Our batting started well too, with 135 the first decent opening partnership for the two Chris' of the year. Nash went for 64, and Dent, seeing his first century of the season clear as day on a flat pitch, got caught on his crease for 96. Cockbain came and went, and while Tendo and Yards got starts, it was Irwin who really pressed on to make sure we could draw this game. His batting with the tail was amazing as he pushed himself over the 100 and 150 marks too, with one partnership with Cotterrell being worth 85. Of that, Cotterrell scored 3. We lost him with 15 runs still needed to avoid the follow on, but Dockrell and Norwell made it and pushed us over into safety.

They then scored more runs, as we continued to fail to take wickets.

We basically had 2 sessions to bat out, and did so fairly comfortably, with Thomas' 53* from 75 balls adding another half century to his tally and making some of the top order players look over their shoulders a little.

Championship State	I'm not commenting on this seriously for a moment... we've won one and drawn one.
Batting Award	Joe Irwin - 173 from 218 balls, a pretty special first hundred for him for us.
Bowling Award	None given - Although Cotterrell was probably the most threatening.

Now we play our first home match of the year versus last year's nemesis, Glamorgan. Norris is the casualty from the last match, with Saxelby coming straight back in. Glamorgan have again made a poor start to the season, with no wins from 3 matches, and have a very, very similar side to last year. Let's hope that they don't remember whatever our weaknesses were. We win the toss and bat under what looks like it might be the only nice sky of the match.

Note - Saw Cricket Captain being mentioned on the Cricinfo live text of the rain earlier. Talking about leading Essex to championship success.

[Imager36]

We beat them!



We started okay, as Dent was out early but Nash built decent partnerships with both Cockbain and ten Doeschate before being out himself for 44. Tendo didn't last much longer himself, leaving us in a state at 119/4, but Yardy came to the crease and with Irwin rebuilt the innings. Their partnership was worth 112, but in reality it was worth more than that in tough conditions and a tough situation. Yardy went for 52, runs he badly needed after a poor start to the year, and Thomas, Cotterrell and Saxelby added 20-odd each before we were all out for 352.

In response, Glamorgan were rather well beaten. Norwell took 2 top order wickets, with the other seamers helping him out, but when Dockrell came on he caused a number of issues for the batsmen, and it was only a matter of time before they fell. Thomas also accounted for 2 wickets with his raw pace. We thought long and hard about the follow on, and decided to enforce it anyway, as is now customary.

A series of good partnerships led them to 196/3, but then Cotterrell seemed to decide that it was finally time to show why he's been hired as an overseas player for us. His left arm angle was good enough to open the defences of Coop, Allenby and Walters in that middle order, while his 4th wicket was simply poor batting! Thomas also took 2 wickets for 11 in 10 overs, which is impressive for a guy who might now be improving a bit!

Whilst Nash fell early, Cockbain and Dent knocked of the runs really easily and cautiously, and we had another stash of points to sit on.

Championship State	Derbyshire and Surrey are the only 2 other teams to have won 2 of their first 3, and we sit second.
Batting Award	Joe Irwin - Hard to give it in such a team effort, but he was the best of the bunch.
Bowling Award	Sheldon Cotterrell - The left armer was really incisive, whilst Dockrell was poor in the second innings.

And on we roll! Missing out the New Zealand match (see Bug Reports thread!) we next take on Derbyshire themselves, at home in Bristol. Only 3 matches have been played, but they already look like title contenders, with the bowling of Clare and Burgoyne the main threat. We don't make any changes from the Glamorgan match, believing we have the best team for the job. Something interesting to note from the AI controlled NZ game is that the computer played Porter as a batsman at 5, above Dent and Yardy, pushing Thomas out of the team. A quirky move, and we shall see how he does in the seconds as to whether he will get a proper chance this year.

On a standard Bristolian green top, we lose the toss and... get put into bat anyway. I'm a 9/10 times bat and the 1 time think about it and still bat type, so it suits me!

[Imager36]

One drab innings again.



Dent hit his straps straight away, and we made a rather brilliant start, with his century and all batsmen numbers 3-6 making between 46 and 57 each! This took us to 334/4 with Yardy and Irwin in, but Joe fell and Yardy could only watch as most of the tail fell away. He added a few more, but got out hitting out, and we had to settle for a score of just under 400 from our great start.

In reply, their batting was rather masterful. They didn't overtake our score by too much, but the fact that they played their whole innings in 101 overs really rubbed some salt in the wounds. Madsen's 110 from 116 balls was great, but our bowlers didn't take too kindly to it, with only Norwell and ten Doeschate going at under 4 an over. Poor display from us, but a good one from them.

Then we rather messed it up. The top order just didn't do its job, and before we knew it we really were staring down the barrel at 123/6. Thomas and Cotterrell combined to add a little respectability, but the game was gone, really.

They didn't bat well, as Saxelby and Thomas cashed in, but they didn't really need to due to the small target. We really must improve.

Championship State	We're 3rd, 18 points off Sussex but with a game in hand!
Batting Award	Chris Dent - A marvellous century, although his second innings dismissal was poor.
Bowling Award	Pfffttttt...

SO, on we go, this time we're back on the road to Hove! They sit above us in the table, and we know with a win we're likely to leapfrog them into those promotion spots. The pitch looks like a result is on the cards, so we stick with the same side. Norwell was the bowler most likely to be dropped after he was rather hit out of all form in the last match, but he stays as he's a better bowler than Norris or Payne on his day. The batting might be given a few more chances, due to the nature of their work. Sussex having Prior playing is a blow, but having stolen Nash and Yardy in the last two seasons, their batting is beginning to lack real quality, although it goes down to 9. They also have no spinner, though Joe Gatting has been known to turn his arm over.

We win the toss, and therefore bat.

[Imager36]

I played the first 2 innings a couple of days ago, so the detail may be hazy...



It wasn't the best of pitches for batting, right from the start, so even though wickets fell in quick succession during our first innings, I was not unduly worried. Nash persevered the new ball spells, and then started hitting a few runs, eventually making a 68 which was worth a century in these conditions. Cotterrell picked up his bat at the end as well, and made a brisk 34.

Even with the pitch in mind, we were amazingly pleased when we reduced Sussex to 61/7! Norwell had taken 5 of those wickets to bag himself a very swift five-for, and whilst Gatting and the tail fought back well to get them over 130, we were still well in control of the match.

Our next innings was a rather curious tale. Our top 7 all managed to get past 20, but the highest score of the lot was Thomas' 41. Problems with getting starts and then out aside, it was the exact kind of score we needed to be really sure of success in the match, our lead about 330, which looked like it would probably be insurmountable on this surprisingly bad pitch.

Apart from Prior and Gatting, there were only 2 men who got into double figures in the Sussex innings. That 55 partnership worried me for a little while, but Dockrell came on and broke it, after Cotterrell had done all the early good work, and they eventually led us to a pretty comfortable little victory.

Championship State	We sit in 3rd, although only 1 point behind Sussex who we have a game in hand on. 4th placed Surrey are 22 behind us, and we have that game in hand on them as well.
Batting Award	Chris Nash - Really held that first innings together.
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - Tough, but that first innings was what wrecked them.

Our next match is at home against the Surrey. Morris has returned from the IPL, so he takes the place of Cotterrell in the eleven. Pietersen is off on England duty, to our relief, so their batting does look suspect, with Gloucs reject Dan Housego at 6.

We've lost the toss and will bowl first on a very sunny day at Bristol.

[Square_Leg]

I'm enjoying your thread! Norwell seems to do really well in this game.

[Imager36]

A very comfortable victory indeed!



Surrey started the match okay, with Steven Davies playing really well in fairly tough conditions to make a dogged 66 before Norwell bowled him, but other than that and a late revival by Ingram and Meaker, Surrey's batting was disappointing. All 4 specialists added to their tallies, with Chris Morris getting off the mark with the wicket of Harinath for 1. Dockrell took over against the lower order with his oddly grey hair, and 4/61 was backed up with a great economy rate.

Nash was out for 3, and then had a long time to kick himself as we batted on! 3 century partnerships followed, with Cockbain taking the offensive and scoring 93 of a 146 partnership with Dent, who was then joined by Tendo as he completed his century and Tendo got going! Irwin came in and hit a useful 58, while Ryan completed his second ton for us this year, and his 25th FC hundred. From 376/3 we spectacularly collapsed to 399/7, but Morris hit a lovely cameo of 40 from 36 balls and we ended up exactly doubling their first innings score.

Apart from a 50 partnership between Roy and Harinath, their second innings was a real rout. All the bowlers got another slice of the pie, with Thomas taking 2 wickets this time around as well. We won with over 4 sessions to spare, and felt like we'd crushed some of our serious opposition.

Championship Results	Surrey spiral downwards somewhat, and we're 18 points clear in 2nd, still having a game in hand on Sussex. Derby are 37 points clear at the top, and we have that game in hand on them too.
Batting Award	Dent/Cockbain/Tendo - All deserve awards for their contributions!
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - Absolute gun.

NEXT - Hampshire are down in 7th, and we go down to play them at the Ageas Bowl. We make one change to our lineup, with Yardy having had a lot of chances and not produced this year, and his replacement is William Porter, who also takes the gloves from Chris Dent. Hampshire hand a début to young keeper Adam Rouse in lieu of Adam Wheater, who has a fracture. Otherwise, they're as expected, with Carberry and McKenzie the best with the bat this year, and former Gloucs man James Fuller joining Rory Kleinveldt in a good new ball partnership for them. It's a pitch that is looking good for the spinners, so Nash could see some action with the ball for us. We lose the toss and must bowl first again.

Note - Yeah, Norwell is a bit of a god in this game, as opposed to in real life, where he's only played 6 CC matches and taken 14 wickets this year! Will Gidman, Miles and Howell have been their three top wicket takers this year... which is quite scary, really.

[Square_Leg]

Interestingly your next game is against Hampshire and mine against Gloucestershire albeit not in the same season nor league. I notice that you regularly manage to bowl sides cheaply in the first innings of games, I seem to do fine to begin with but it is the middle part of the innings, overs 30-60, that I really struggle with. Are there any tips you have for this period? Apart from having Norwell in your side!

[Imager36]

Interestingly your next game is against Hampshire and mine against Gloucestershire albeit not in the same season nor league. I notice that you regularly manage to bowl sides cheaply in the first innings of games, I seem to do fine to begin with but it is the middle part of the innings, overs 30-60, that I really struggle with. Are there any tips you have for this period? Apart from having Norwell in your side!

First innings, maybe... work to do on second innings still though! Errrm, I think the main way I do that is by using seamers' pitches and having some great seamers, as well as possibly not getting too involved with what the batsman's preferences are. I generally bowl with 4 bars of aggression whilst my side's on top, and unless a batsman gets settled, just aim at that good length, off stump line that gets the most wickets in real life for the seamers.

Not that you should ever listen to anything I say.



This might be the most frustrating game I've ever been part of... Anyway, later we'll get to that. We started well, removing both openers with only 23 on the board, and while McKenzie and Butt did get on top of us for a little while, we never looked flustered, and Dockrell broke the partnership when he took over. Norwell got a couple, and George rather took over before Wood and Rouse (40) made another frustrating little partnership for the Hampshire side. After that there was little resistance though, and we were once again pleased with our lot.

Dent was out for 15, but Nash played supremely well. He hadn't scored over 68 for us so far, and I was beginning to worry, but his first century for us was splendid. Cockbain (70) put on a partnership of 165 with him, before Tendo took over for 46 in a 65 partnership. Nash began to attack again when Irwin came to the crease, and did so well, until he went for 149 from 250 balls. Porter was out for a golden duck on his first CC appearance for us, and Thomas faired little better, but partnerships with Morris, Saxelby and Norwell, which he dominated, were enough to send Irwin to his second century of the season, and to push us a long way in front.

They put on 102 for the first wicket with Maupin and Carberry... and while McKenzie was out early this time, Butt was even harder than before to remove, and stuck around for a 170 partnership with Maupin, who was out shortly after we eventually got Butt. Hugh Barnes went cheaply, but Dawson hit some massive shots as our fields were forced back. Then Rouse came in and hit yet more runs, and it turned out we had just over 2 sessions to score 230.

The result was... very depressing. We did very well indeed, Dent's 82 from 132 balls looked to be steering us home at 170/4 with just over an hour and a quarter to go, but some unforecast rains came! They washed out an hour, and when we returned we needed 60 from 4 overs. Feeling that anything was worth a go, we had a thrash, but we lost a number of wickets and had to settle for a draw.

Championship State	14 points clear of 3rd placed Kent, 28 points down but with a game in hand on Derby.
Batting Award	Chris Nash - A sparkling innings when he was really under pressure for a score.
Bowling Award	None - Everyone shared everything evenly.

Next! We face Leicester, bottom of the table with 1 win, at home at Bristol. We make one change - Porter seems to suddenly be out of form totally, so Kieran Lynn replaces him at number 6. We use another of our seaming pitches, and Leicester have decided to play... 3 bowlers. Not 3 bowlers and an allrounder, 3 bowlers. Okay. This could be amusing. Just a question of bowling them out twice then. Our former man Benny Howell lurks at 7, while Greg Smith is the specialist batsman at 8. We again lose the toss and bowl first.

[Imager36]

Guys, guys, I'm back! It wasn't even a break because I was bored, just when I got to the student house I realised... no-one had remembered to set up internet for us. Lovely. Anyway, fully web compatible again, we start by thrashing Leicester.



It was an incredibly regulation win, actually! We started well, reducing them to 20/3 early on in the first day, and never looked back! The bowlers really hit hard in that first innings, not even letting the team batting first score a bonus point, and we bundled them out inside the first two sessions,

We lost an hour to rain, but started our innings in earnest after that. Nash and Dent saw us through to the close with a very solid opening partnership, but both fell early the next morning to the 2 Leics seamers. Tendo followed cheaply, but Cockbain and Irwin came together to put on a massive 143 partnership in very good time, with 12 boundaries apiece. They fell pretty quickly after each other, but with our lead about 80, there was still time for another century partnership! Lynn came in in good spirits, and then accumulated as Thomas picked up the slack. Both made welcome half centuries, and with Lynn's career average above 40 again, he's hard to drop! The tail went for very little, but we still had a very nice lead.

Apart from some workmanlike innings from Marston and O'Brien trying to keep their side in the game, we went through them again pretty easily. Saxelby this time was the leader of the attack, with his 6 wickets really just runnings through their middle order. It was barely worth chasing the number we had to in the end, and we knocked them off in just over 4 overs and got a day off for our troubles!

Championship State	Everyone near the top's played 8, we're 5 points off Derby but 25 clear of everyone else, with Glamorgan the nearest!
Batting Award	Kieran Lynn - The unit worked well, but Lynn was impressive in such a tough situation for a guy in and out of the team.
Bowling Award	Norwell/Saxelby - Both deserve something for their demolishing of the Leics batting line up!

Next we play Kent, who sit in 4th. The major weapons for them are likely to be marvelous young talent Shiv Thakor batting at 3, and 23 year old left arm spinner Alex Hopps, who already has 49 wickets to his name this season! Morris has been called up for the Saffers, so Cotterrell replaces him, which doesn't really affect our line-up too badly.

[mattysommo]

Hey mate loving the story. Any chance you'll return and continue?

[Imager36]

Hey mate loving the story. Any chance you'll return and continue?

Well I'm still around... if I'm going to continue it'll be in the next few weeks, but it could happen.

If not, there could be an ICC14 story on the way when it's released!

[Alrounder80]

Well I'm still around... if I'm going to continue it'll be in the next few weeks, but it could happen.

If not, there could be an ICC14 story on the way when it's released!

I shall also be starting a story after my two year hiatus. I'm just desperately hoping a Mac version is actually released this time. It'll probably be a long time after the PC version's released though

[DaveK93]

Well I'm still around... if I'm going to continue it'll be in the next few weeks, but it could happen.

If not, there could be an ICC14 story on the way when it's released!

Either way, something to look forward to!