Gloucestershire - That Elusive Championship (Story)

[Imager36]

A fairly simple victory to kick off the resurgence.



Cotterell straight away looked determined to show us that Morris' departure would not be the end of the world, and roared out of the blocks to reduce Kent to 11/2 with both openers gone. Thakor and Blake rebuilt well in a partnership of 86, but Norwell bowled Shiv and instigated another mini-collapse, Blake falling to Dockerell and Brendan Nash becoming a second victim for Norwell. From here, 108/5, the lower order resisted well, Simmons and Harmison both adding valuable runs before falling to Dockerell, but Cotterell finished off the last 3 wickets to leave them with a below par 202.

Nash and Dent played with a lot of grit, and while the runs weren't flowing freely, made a partnership of 98 to stand our innings in good stead. Cockbain and Tendo both went fairly early, but Joe Irwin capitalised on his good recent form to dig in. Wickets kept falling at the other end, unfortunately, with Lynn and Thomas both failing, but Cotterell and Saxelby hung on for 20 and 21 respectively to make sure our lead was decent.

After a decent opening partnership, Kent lost their first 3 wickets on the score of 44, with Northeast, Key and Blake all going with their team still a distance behind. The next two went on 75 as Simmons was bowled by Saxelby, and then Brendan Nash was caught behind next ball to complete a pair for the match. Thakor was still around, and threatening to threaten, but he went before he really got going, and Ben Harmison and Matt Coles had fight, but it was almost a case of too little too late. Ben White at number 10 hung around for almost an hour, but as run scoring was almost non-existant at this point, didn't damage us.

A target of 109 looked small, but we managed to give Kent hope by being reduced to 24/3. Irwin stayed about for a bit, but then he and Lynn both fell, and it was up to Thomas and the impressively calm ten Doeschate to finish the game off.

Championship State	We're top of the table! Derby are 9 points below us, and Glamorgan are 2 points below, having played an extra game. If we aren't promoted, we've had a very bad end to the year!
Batting Award	Ryan ten Doeschate - Just stayed about for a 45* in the second innings that made sure we were comfortable victors.
Bowling Award	Sheldon Cotterell - In his 5th match for us, he took his first five-for, and was an incredibly dangerous option!

Danny Skelton and Len Stanton, both batsmen, have been promoted from the youth side! Unfortunately, they both look a bit rubbish, so are unlikely to get a look-in!

Hampshire, 5th in the table, are to be our next opponents. We keep the same side that defeated Kent, taking care to watch out for Hants' overseas star, Rory Kleinveldt, who has taken his wickets at under 22 this season.

As a refresher for anyone coming back to this story (and me), here are the XI we play, with their FC batting and bowling averages.

Name	FC Batting	Type	FC Bowling
Chris Nash	36.57	OS	36.05
Chris Dent (K)	32.89	-	-
Ian Cockbain (C)	36.45	-	-
Ryan ten Doeschate	45.65	RFM	34.65
Joe Irwin	45.38	-	-
Kieran Lynn	37.30	-	-
Peter Thomas	35.21	RF	43.84
Sheldon Cotterell (O/S)	20.78	LFM	23.42
Ian Saxelby	16.94	RFM	30.43
Liam Norwell	9.36	RFM	24.39
George Dockerell	8.96	SLA	25.52

[DaveK93]

Nice win mate, good to see you back again!

[Imager36]

A crushing defeat. A massive humiliation.



Oh come on forums, you know I'm no good at writing when I get absolutely thrashed... oh alright then...

We won the toss and batted, because that's what you do in these situations on these pitches. Soon we were 7/3, with Nash, Dent and Tendo all going for 2, 1 and 1 respectively (and not so respectably). Irwin stuck around for a while, but was going nowhere and eventually departed for 17, while Cockbain made a brisk but entirely inappropriate 24 from 34 balls. Lynn and Thomas also put up a little resistance, scoring 44 and 23, but the tail fell cheaply and we were out for 142, far below par.

After a decent start, where we picked up 2 wickets for 25 runs, our bowling became... ineffectual, to put it mildly. That said, Butt (HA, BUTT!) was supreme, barely offering a chance in his magnificent double century, the first of his burgeoning career. Carberry made a half century with him, and then McKenzie, Roberts, Wood and Kleinveldt all played their part in support of him, but it was the 20 year old who sparkled, smacking all 7 of our bowlers to the boundary rope and making things difficult for us. It was no excuse for how we bowled though, and we didn't look like taking the wickets anything like quickly enough. Eventually they put us out of our misery with a declaration after 142.1 overs.

Over 350 behind, we were looking to bat long through the rest of day 3, and into day 4 when rain was forecast. Unfortunately, we couldn't do anything like. Soon we were 9/2, and while we put up a little more fight, it was nowhere near enough to have any effect on the match. A very disappointing match.

Championship State	We pick up 2 points. We didn't deserve that many. Derby draw level with us on 160 points, with Glamorgan looking menacing on 156.
Batting Award	... Seriously?
Bowling Award	George Dockrell - On a pitch prepared for the seamers, he seemed the only decent option, and bowled a massive share of the overs (45 in total) as the quicks seemed rather impotent.

Our next match is rather important, against Derbyshire away, equal with us in the table. Morris returns, and Cotterell is off to play for the Golden Isles, so that switch is made. On a pitch looking good for batting, we know that if our mistakes in the last game are repeated in this, we don't have a chance of the victory we'd like. If it does, the batting line up might change around a bit!

[Imager36]

And another of those 4th innings chases that still happen more often than you'd like...



We lost the toss, but got to bat so weren't really too bothered. As if to make a mockery of our previous batting efforts, Nash and Dent set out with purpose on a good pitch, but under cloudy skies. They both passed 50, and ended with a partnership of 186, far higher than either of our innings scores in the last match! Nash was unlucky to miss out on a hundred, but Dent managed to get to three figures, falling for 116 eventually. (Aside - My favourite fact about this innings is that Cockbain and ten Doeschate both went for 12 runs, both took 23 balls to get them, both struck 2 boundary fours and no sixes, and were both caught behind off the bowling of Palladino. Any more similar innings out there anywhere?!) As we moved to 244/4, we could have been accused of making a mess of a great start, but Irwin (41) and especially Lynn (75) made sure we capitalised, with Morris (29) sticking around to offer enough support to our number 6. 400+ is always respectable, and after the last match we were almost thrilled!

We made a much better start with the ball as well, taking them down to 36/3 when Morris took 2 wickets in an over to prove his spirit for the game. Madsen and Redfern built up a steady partnership of 68, but Thomas removed the former just short of his half century with his first over, and Dockrell got rid of Whiteley and Clare to leave them 111/6. Unfortunately, keeper Durham proved a nuisance for the first time in this match, but not the last, as he stuck around for a plucky 76 with Redfern, who fell 3 short of his century to Saxelby. Palladino's 21 prevented us from enforcing the follow-on, but we were still well in control on the third morning.

Setting a big target for Derby was at the front of our minds, but our aspirations of that weren't helped when Chris Dent was clobbered by his third ball and had to retire hurt. Cockbain also went early, but Nash and ten Doeschate batted on well to push us above 100, and when they both fell in quick succession, Irwin and Lynn both played fantastic innings, at good pace to put us well on top. 70* from 96 and 72* from 99 respectively put us into a great position, and we declared with 50 minutes left of day 3, setting a target of 387 to win for Derby.

After they made a great start, we reduced them to 215/5 with some good bowling. Clare fell to leave them 239/6, and we were sensing a big victory, but the game didn't see it that way, and unfortunately Whiteley and Durham beat all put in front of them in a massive 148 partnership on the fourth afternoon.

Championship State	We've fallen into third, 8 points off Glamorgan in second, and 13 off Derby at the top. We still feel it should be us up top.
Batting Award	Kieran Lynn - Not the century for Dent, the two 70s by Lynn were the key to making our first innings big enough, and then giving them a pretty decent target to chase.
Bowling Award	Ian Saxelby - 4 wickets in the first innings wins this for him. Far too expensive in the second, but he can work on that.

Two changes, both for form reasons. Captain Cockbain, who's had a run of poor scores, is replaced by the in-form Tom Price at 3, with Chris Nash taking leadership duties, and Liam Norwell replaced by the left arm 19 year old pacer Rob Norris. Next up are Kent again, this time at Bristol, so we'll be looking to win another convincing victory! We need it after those two defeats...

[Imager36]

A very useful victory for us!



We win the toss. We bat. The weather looks like it should be pretty nice for all 4 days, so we looked to fill our boots with runs as if runs were a physical thing small enough to fit in boots, and our boots were size 18.

Nash went early, possibly overwhelmed due to the size of the boots that needed to be filled. Dent and Price, however, looked like they'd been batting together before (Hint - They have) and made a partnership worth 92 before Dent went for 53, his 5th 50 of the season. 2 runs later, ten Doeschate followed him back to the pavilion. Price, going against everything expected of him, went on for a bit longer, sharing another nice little partnership with Irwin which took us to 189/3. Price eventually fell for 81, though he'd have liked his third century. Irwin made a fairly speedy 44, and then the rest managed another 80 or so, but we felt we hadn't really made the most of our good start.

We reduced them to 16/3 with a fantastic spell of bowling from Norris and Morris. The left-armer took the wickets of both openers in his first match back in the side, and then Morris removed Key to put us well on top. Thakor and Blake recovered very well for Kent, and we looked rather clueless as Morris and Norris suddenly looked toothless and Dockrell and Saxelby didn't seem too much better! They made a very good partnership of 109, but then wickets started falling at more regular intervals, and much like us, the lower order didn't put up much resistance and they conceded 59 on the first innings.

With that small advantage, we set about building our lead again. Our opening partnership was cautious, but was exactly what we needed in a tricky situation on the second evening. The 126 was eventually broken by Coles, after Nash eventually got going, and it didn't take too much longer to remove Dent for 76. Price kept batting, and made 40, but in the end we were very thankful indeed for our openers getting off to the steady start, as our innings fell away to 254/7 before Morris, Saxelby and Dockrell made 2 figure scores to drag our total up considerably.

They were chasing 379, and for a long time they looked like they were going to manage it! Belmont went early, but Thakor made a lovely 62 in partnership with Northeast worth 129, before his wicket, and the removals of Key and Blake, got us really believing at 152/4. They had other ideas, with Northeast battling through and Simmons and Brown batting phenomenally, the latter sharing another century partnership with Northeast, to put them 298/5 and us looking at deja vu, before Peter Thomas became a hero by coming on and taking 3 wickets as the Kent tail fell away, and we emerged vicorious!

Championship State	With the top 3 having all played 12 games, we are 15 behind Derby, but 10 points ahead of Glamorgan!
Batting Award	Price/Dent - Both managed meaningful contributions in both innings, much praise to Price for doing well at 3.
Bowling Award	Chris Morris - 9 wickets in the match, looked like the only decent bowler at times in their second innings.

We now go to 9th placed Leicester for another match, on a pitch that already looks like it's going to be good for the bowlers. We don't make any changes to our winning side, as it would feel strange.

[Imager36]

The vagaries of the follow on (and some poor bowling) have accounted for us here.



We won the toss and batted. Is this news any more? It seems to happen every match we play. Our start was, to be honest, very poor. Dent and Price fell as the score got to 17, and despite some valiant fighting by Nash (29) and Tendo (37), they both got dismissed and Lynn went quickly. Thankfully for us, the last two players we rely on with the bat got the job done. 174 runs was the total of the partnership, taking us from distress at 103/5 to relative comfort at 277/6. Thomas and Irwin were both excellent, and both the young players composed excellent innings, although Thomas was unlucky to fall on 81, before achieving his second first class century. Irwin's knock subsided not long after, but Chris Morris' 65 not out and Saxelby's 36 meant we actually achieved a very good first innings score.

They started well, with a decent opening partnership, but then the top two fell in quick succession and we had an in. It didn't last for long as Bopara and Sarwan got started though, and took their team to a more respectable 194/3. Thankfully though, the rest crumbled thanks to a sensational spell from the inconsistent Saxelby, as he claimed 5 of those 7 wickets to allow us to enforce the follow-on. Given our patchy record with knowing when to declare, we took up the option.

Unfortunately, this time they batted far better. A 94 opening partnership, and 180 between Marston and Bopara took them about 100 ahead with only 2 wickets down, but a collapse then to 317/6 had us sensing blood with a low target on the board and a full day of play left. Newlands, however, along with the rest of the tail, had other ideas. Saxelby didn't have the same effect he had previously, and Dockrell was lacking in impact as well. It meant that instead of the 170ish target we should have faced, we were looking at 270 with only just over 2 sessions to do it in.

Here, our downfall was probably that we started to attempt the chase. Dent and Price managed to bat well, making us think we had a sniff, but the rest of the side had no answer to the seamers of Buck, or the spin of Naik and Sarwan on a turning fourth day track. We were bowled out with over an hour to go. It was another embarrassment.

Championship State	We're in third, but only 3 points off Glamorgan with a game in hand (3 to play for us).
Batting Award	Joe Irwin - He's looking like a really fine player, and may be getting a promotion up the order soon!
Bowling Award	Ian Saxelby - Poor in the second innings, but that spell that let us enforce the follow on was sensational.

Lynn's given one more game to try and regain his form, as he's posted 4 scores in a row under 20. Norris, however, has only taken 2 wickets in 2 matches, and those both in his first innings, so Norwell comes back in in place of him!

[lukaz189]

Unlucky with that Leicestershire result mate. That is an excellent example of why i rarely enforce the follow-on on ICC when the opposition gets close the 150 deficit. They always seem to pull out an amazing 2nd innings display to put themselves right back in the game. Still, i'm sure you'll get yourself up to div 1!!

[Imager36]

Unlucky with that Leicestershire result mate. That is an excellent example of why i rarely enforce the follow-on on ICC when the opposition gets close the 150 deficit. They always seem to pull out an amazing 2nd innings display to put themselves right back in the game. Still, i'm sure you'll get yourself up to div 1!!

Yeah, I think my confidence had been knocked by the big 4th innings chase a couple of games before!

No chance of a repeat of that against Sussex, though.



We won the toss and batted, because we will take advantage of that streak while it lasts! Dent was LBW to Jordan after the openers had added 54, but the next blow was Chris Nash being hit on the arm by Jordan and having to retire hurt after suffering a fracture to it. Price had been playing quite well, and continued that with a fluent 61, with Tendo making 29. Irwin and Lynn also added to the score, Lynn responding to his ultimatum by smashing Jordan for 6 off his first ball, and before long we were 264/3+Nash, and looking for a good first innings score. We were pegged back a little from there, but Saxelby and Thomas managed to add a few each and post us a decent score of 339, especially where our top score was 61.

Norwell and Morris raced out of the traps to reduce them to 44/3 and have their top order in knots. Denly and Joyce, both classy players, managed to knock in a century partnership when they'd seen off the new ball pair though, as Saxelby, Thomas and Dockrell struggled and the batsmen were set by the time Morris returned. Eventually though, he managed to nibble out both, and Gatting to follow them. Luke Wright and Ali Khan played very well for a time, too, but Khan was caught behind off Morris and Dockrell bowled Wright before ripping through the tail, leaving us with a 89 run advantage with 40 mins of day 2 still to play.

With Nash gone, Price opened. He looked a lot less fluent against the new ball, but we were focussed on pressing our advantage. Thankfully, he stuck around a bit, and Dent and Irwin, who batted at 3 due to it being a possible future spot for him, took the score to 94. Tendo added more alongside Irwin as our lead grew and grew, although Lynn came and went to give us cause for concern at 182/4+Nash. Thankfully, the last few managed to scrape together a fair few more and we thought we had enough to seal the deal.

With 40 mins left in the day, we set out to attack. Before the close, they were 35/4 and the match was as good as over. Two wickets each for Morris and Norwell, and we were buzzing. 3 more quick ones for Morris in the morning gave him a 10fer and had them reeling at 63/7, but then they got a bit worn out, and it was left to Thomas to get rid of the stubborn Gatting and Jordan before Morris trapped Fry to grant us a simple victory.

Championship State	We're second, 19 points clear of Glamorgan and 17 behind Derby, with them having played one match extra.
Batting Award	Joe Irwin - The batting was largely a team effort, but he managed 100 crucial runs in total and looks set to be a star.
Bowling Award	Chris Morris - 12/77 in the match. I mean, what more does he need to do to win man of the match?

Chris Nash is out for a while, which necessitates change in personnel at the top of the order. Cockbain has been good in the seconds, and so he gets that chance to open the innings and captain the side. Price stays at 3 where he's comfortable! We play Glamorgan, knowing that a victory or draw would all but seal our promotion.

[DaveK93]

Nicely done mate!

You thinking of a new story for ICC14 (when it turns up) ?

[Imager36]

Nicely done mate!

You thinking of a new story for ICC14 (when it turns up) ?

Tough! I'm thinking I may carry on with this for a little while, during the inevitable early database patches period, and then try something new... have a couple of ideas whirling around, but no idea if they're any good!

[DaveK93]

Tough! I'm thinking I may carry on with this for a little while, during the inevitable early database patches period, and then try something new... have a couple of ideas whirling around, but no idea if they're any good!

Sounds intriguing, I won't be complaining either way though!

[Imager36]

Sounds intriguing, I won't be complaining either way though!

I'll try and make things even more ridiculous until you do... although I think I already did that with Sussex2022.

Anyhow, on with the business.



In a kind of subversive way, I quite like it when a game doesn't make it to day four.

NEWSFLASH. We lost the toss and had to bowl first. Woahhh. A second surprise was that despite being a bit rusty, we did rather well at it. We got the first wicket for 21, as Norwell trapped Coop LBW, and then two more fairly solid partnerships including Kapugedera took them to 81/2 and relative comfort on a difficult pitch. Thankfully, Saxelby had just hit his straps, and he tore through the Glamorgan middle order, and with Thomas bowling Allenby and Norwell disposing of Wallace, they didn't have too much batting to offer. Safe to say, we were incredibly pleased with the results.

We knew the pitch was tough through, and it was all down to the returning captain that we managed to secure a first innings lead. His 91 was in no way beautiful, but it was amazingly gritty, and he looked like a man who wanted first division cricket for his county. It took him 50 odd balls to get to 15, but that didn't matter too much as time was something we had in spades. Almost everyone else got a start but failed to go on, and his was the only real innings of note until Thomas and Morris added 60-odd between them to take our lead to a good level, on a pitch that was looking increasingly dodgy.

They started... scarily well. When they passed our lead with only one wicket down, I felt like we may well be in trouble chasing the target on a wearing pitch. We took 3 more wickets quickly, but another good partnership of 78 between Dexter and Walters had us fearful again. Thankfully, the last 6 wickets fell for 33 due to a good all-round effort with the ball, with Saxelby picking up his second five-for of the match.

It may have seemed a modest target, but we struggled on the way. Reduced to 49/3, Tendo and Irwin battled us into a great position with a 50 partnership, but we had another wobble to 113/7 before Thomas and Saxelby saw us home with some nice cautious batting, and secured our promotion!

Championship State	WE'RE PROMOTED! Yeah, that. First in the table by 4 points, and ahead of Glamorgan by 37. One match to play.
Batting Award	Ian Cockbain - The captain returned with a very gritty innings indeed on a tough track. Deserved a century.
Bowling Award	Ian Saxelby - For the second game in a row, one of our seamers delivered a match winning performance! Saxelby this time!

We see no need to change anything, and keep the same eleven for our final match against Essex.

[DaveK93]

I'll try and make things even more ridiculous until you do... although I think I already did that with Sussex2022.

Sussex 2022? What glorious piece of history have I missed? Also, congrats on the promotion!

[Imager36]

I've just realised I didn't keep it on this forum... enjoy... http://www.planetcricket.net/forums/...-be-won.66521/

Reasons it's mad:

- The coach of Sussex has my name, but the story is written from a journalist's perspective. Why did I do that??
- It's set in the future, so it takes forever to introduce.
- I mainly wrote for jokes and story instead of description... some of those interviews...
- I wrote it over 4 years ago. I was more mental in those days.

EDIT - I forgot the maddest bit... I explained away the 12 years between the story and real life... http://www.planetcricket.net/forums/...2#post-1824170

[DaveK93]

I've just realised I didn't keep it on this forum... enjoy... http://www.planetcricket.net/forums/...-be-won.66521/

Reasons it's mad:

- The coach of Sussex has my name, but the story is written from a journalist's perspective. Why did I do that??
- It's set in the future, so it takes forever to introduce.
- I mainly wrote for jokes and story instead of description... some of those interviews...
- I wrote it over 4 years ago. I was more mental in those days.

So glad I got the chance to read this. Keeping me going while I do all the background prep ready for my ICC14 story.

Edit: "The Event" is my favourite part. Love the reference!