Glos v Sussex

[steve]

Would like to see Hankins in for K N-B with Taylor dropping to six. Would bolster the batting without really weakening the bowling. Three strike bowlers with Higgins, Howell, Van-B as back up. Assuming Miles will replace the injured Norwell.

[procswrongfoot]

Steve.......agree with your general sentiments of getting another batsman into the line up.

However, realistically I am not expecting any changes to the line up (apart from the enforced change of Miles in for the injured Norwell). This is based on the fact that Richard Dawson seems to be a "Same again Sam" type of coach and does not really seem to go for tweaks to the line up. Admirable loyalty to the selected players, but personally don't think that we make good use of the squad (some of the fringe players must get pretty demoralised with their lack of opportunity).

As for KNB, for some reason he only bowled 7 out of the 153 overs bowled at Glamorgan in their first innings. Was he struggling with a minor strain or did Dent have little faith in his bowling at the time? However, to be fair to him he did top score in our first innings and I would be surprised if he does not play at Hove

For me GvB is also an early season worry and needs to score runs to justify his inclusion. Otherwise we might as well play Tom Smith. Moving forward (and depending on form) you could make a case out for the inclusion of an extra batter plus Smith to replace GvB and KNB.

Despite the fact that Hove can seemingly have its own little micro climate, the weather forecast is looking fairly dismal. A NAILED ON DRAW BECKONS

[paul]

Yes the forecast is still very dodgy, but today looks a bit better, hopefully they can start on time, as the rain radar shows it is very clear (and what rain there is in the Midlands is moving very slowing indeed and not towards south coast) Not great conditions though, chilly. Disappointed yesterday we couldn't get a wicket or two, and Higgins didn't get a couple of overs, probably up next then it rained so can't be too harsh about that. Lets hope its good news about the start time.

[paul]

Bit of a nail biter now 167 to win!! Come on.

[procswrongfoot]

As the match rapidly progressed over the last two days, I did start to wonder what absolute clown had come up with his pre-match prediction that...'A NAILED ON DRAW BECKONS' Anyway, with the "batten down the hatches" forecast for Monday, I think that we can safely say that the game will be drawn.

Have we escaped with a draw, or have we rather thrown away a great opportunity? Despite both teams finding it difficult to score runs on this wicket, I do think that with a bit more application from our batters we could have come away with a victory. Do we hope for better form on more batsmen friendly wickets, or do we try a tweak or two to the batting line up?

Great effort from the bowlers. Interesting that Ryan Higgins was entrusted with opening the bowling in their second innings. Given helpful conditions, it does start to look as if he is going to be our go to bowler. Early days, but already starting to show that this has been a great signing for us.

[paul]

Fantastic signing, and Worrall is starting settle in, never easy moving so far and expect to pick up where you left off, but he is doing well and is also a work horse, and can bowl all day, just what we need right now.

Well I was sceptical about the weather, because looking at the rain radar now (1am), 90% of UK has no rain and not likely to get rain. BUT and its a massive But, the other 10% is very heavy rain, and its right over HOVE!! Unbelievable, and the other bad bit of news is, it is ultra slow moving, in fact NOT hardly moving. So if the ground is flooded in the morning, it won't be a surprise to me at all. How its going to pan out later not sure my rain radar will only show 4 hours into the future But here in Cheltenham its completely clear and no rain forecast, completely different from the forecast a few days ago.

So have we escaped with a draw, or not, that is the question? 6 down I think maybe we have. A Shame we might never find out. Or is it? LOL.

Update at 6am Unfortunately  No chance of any play in Hove, it is such an unusual weather picture, the rain over South East just not moving at all, all day.  Rest of UK no rain at all. So a draw it will be and we start 1-1-1  which isn't too bad at all. And very close games that could have gone either way.  No play likely at Lords either so 4 draws in Div 2 it is. 


Worth a look www.raintoday.co.uk/

[steve]

Well Procswrongfoot I would say we threw away a great opportunity. Chasing 167 was never going to be easy but why not open with Benny and Jack with maybe Higgins at three and give it a go for ten or fifteen overs. A quick fifty or sixty runs and the game would be ours. If things didn't go to plan we could then shut up shop and bat out the game. There was never ever going to be a chance of any play today. With no other results in division two a win would probably have seen us top.
Glamorgan played it right last week and instantly got on top of our bowlers and won with ease.

On a positive note what a revelation Ryan Higgins has been! We knew a bit about what he would bring to white ball cricket but after three matches he currently tops both our batting and bowling averages.
We have been missing a genuine all rounder for some time. Benny and KNB never really made it their spot. Lets hope it continues. It brings such balance to the team and will allow us to play an extra batsman if required.

[procswrongfoot]

Steve.....I tend to agree that we rather missed out on an massive opportunity to achieve an important victory.

Following the proceedings from a distance, Day 3 swung back and forth and was totally absorbing (proving yet again that low scoring matches can often be very entertaining). At one stage, it looked as if we would be only chasing around 120. Unfortunately, the last 3 Sussex wickets put on a vital 50 runs. This included a somewhat aggressive 27 not out from their number 9 Wiese, who rather chanced his arm. Dent didn't seem to have much faith in our back up bowlers, so if anything you could argue that Worrall and Higgins were rather over bowled and began to tire.

In the run chase, we were really well placed at 69 for 1 off 21 overs, with Benny going well. However, we then managed to lose 4 wickets for 2 runs, which virtually finished off our victory hopes and put us on the defensive. The increasingly darkening conditions obviously did not help our cause.

Where does this leave us after 3 matches. One victory, one draw and one loss. With a little bit of luck it could easily be 2 wins and one draw and sitting proudly at the top of the table. As it is we have 29 points, with an absolutely identical record to Middlesex (including bonus points). Somewhat remarkably, Sussex are on the same points total, based on 3 draws.

Next up Middlesex at Lords. A stern but exciting test. C'mon the Glos

[jessoptavernview]

We're with Steve and Procswrongfoot above. This was a winnable away game after a superb bowling performance against a good side who many are tipping as promotion favourites. Recapped on the Tavern here, as ever we welcome your feedback.

[procswrongfoot]

Jessoptavernview

Great stuff as always guys....always love reading your entertaining blog, which often includes some well researched stats. Keep up the good work and please continue to supply this forum with links to your blog. You will no doubt get a number of readers from our seemingly regular gang of lurkers, just don't expect many comments in response. I can't ever really fathom out why so few people can ever be bothered to make an occasional comment on this forum. Particularly as every contributor is treated with respect and I cannot ever remember when a poster was ridiculed for their comment/opinion. Really strange...never considered my fellow Glos supporters as the shy and bashful types!!!

Anyway, the comment in your blog....."Craig Miles still appears to be MIA" .....had me completely baffled for 10 minutes or so. Sorry, but this old codger is really not up to date with all these hip abbreviations used by the younger generation. Worked it out eventually though.

The past sequence of individual scores, especially for GvB is telling (I knew it was poor, but perhaps not quite that bad). We all knew before the season started that our potential batting line up was going to be a problem. My fear is that we simply repeatedly churn out the same batting formation in the hope that the tide will eventually turn. (Think Hankins scored a ton in the recent Seconds game against Middlesex). As for Jack, well I really don't think that we are doing him any favours batting him at 5 at the moment. He has such a unique batting style, which relies so heavily on a good eye rather than classic technique. On seaming wickets with plenty of shine left on the ball, it is very dubious to think that we are presently getting the best out of him.

Finally, rather minor point. On your pre-season preview, you mentioned that we had signed Dan Worrall as our overseas for the full season. I did think that he was only signed until early July, although I might well have missed a subsequent update on this.

[paul]

Correct Dan Worrall leaves on 2nd July.

Of course I agree after the 1st Innings bowling we should have beaten Sussex never get a better chance. But the way things panned out then we were lucky it rained. And at 69/1 really it should have been all over. But my point was more on the very final position of the game with us 6 down. Not the fact we shouldn't have been 6 down. But when we were 6 down then we were lucky to draw. Had we carried on, we would have lost. But yes we should have won the game if you look at it from 69/1. But I think we agree that at the beginning of the Innings 167 was not going to easy. So I am not surprised we didn't do it. So it does depend on when you take your point of view from. We should have won. But we were in end lucky to get a draw. Daft game.

A lot of people read forums now on phones and it can be more difficult to reply especially if you want to keep referring to something. It takes up time, facebook and twitter are quicker and more interactive. You can just chat to those you want to chat to. Getting hassle that you can't ignore, people answering you abruptly and its clear they haven't read your post correctly, all sort of reasons why all forums are dying.

[procswrongfoot]

Paul......you make some well reasoned points regarding the run chase against Sussex.

However, I am struggling to agree with your comments on forums in general......."all sorts of reasons why forums are dying out". Whilst I fully acknowledge that Facebook and Twitter have their devotees, particularly for those wanting to make an instantaneous comment, the reality is that there are numerous forums that are still an absolute throbbing hive of activity.

You don't really have to look that far with Bristol City (Otib) and Rovers (with Gaschat and Gasheads) absolutely thriving. Both Forest Green Rovers and Cheltenham have lively fans forums that are worthy of the name. Even nomadic Gloucester City, currently playing Conference South home games at Evesham (av attendance of 284) have a fans forum that they can be really proud of.

On the county cricket front take a gander at Middlesex (MTID), Yorkshire (White Rose Forum) or Somerset (Grockles). The Yorkies almost go into meltdown with 18 pages for Day 1 of their recent match against Essex, whilst Somerset can muster 340 posts for their opening home match against Worcs. Of course, perhaps rather unfair to try and compare Glos against the big boys. So let's try a comparison with Glamorgan.....they have managed 217 separate posts since mid April !!!

The thriving forums all have one thing in common. A main hard core of regular posters, which effectively self perpetuates by getting the more occasional poster to contribute and dip in and out of the forum from time to time. Those forums that struggle and eventually disappear, deserve to do so through lack of interest. As for our own forum, well it has struggled along on the edge and it is probably quite surprising that it is somehow still going. A major low point was the reaction to our quite amazing RLC victory at Lord's against Surrey in 2015. This forum managed a paltry 2 posts in response to the brilliant achievement. Rather sad but true.

[paul]

Yes very fair points indeed. Have seen this happen with some football forums as well, while some are pretty busy, a lot are a very busy. But one or two are dead. No real explanation.