Gloucs Thread

[ChrisfromStroud]

First topic message reminder :

Don't like the new set-up - all done without much consultation over a couple of days of a holiday weekend.
Well thought out.

So just starting a Gloucs thread within the County Cricket section.

There, that's the dullest topic I have ever posted.
(Please don't disagree.)
But further postings in this thread may be more interesting...

[Spiny Norman]

4-6-6 by Ballance to finish it. 

Well, that's the boring four-day cricket done with. Back to the exciting 40-over stuff tomorrow

[ChrisfromStroud]

4,6,6... Ballance decides he wants his tea!

Well played Yorks.

And well played captains for arranging an exciting match.

Please Gidders Major, can we have a bit more imagination in the bowling options next time?

[jimbobgooner]

Just saying "hello

[ChrisfromStroud]

Just saying "hello

[ChrisfromStroud]

Well, it's either that or :

[jimbobgooner]

Well, it's either that or :

come and have a

[liverbnz]

Good game guys. Nice to be on the right end one of these contrived results for a change.

[Spiny Norman]

Cracking day yesterday. Let's hope the CB40 is as exciting!

[Spiny Norman]

Superb 88 from Benny Howell - deserved a ton

[ChrisfromStroud]

Deserves a contract!

[Spiny Norman]

And a ton for Kane Williamson

[Spiny Norman]

Can we afford a contract for Howell? He looks like class to me.

[ChrisfromStroud]

Loyalty to a team that gave him a second chance?

[Spiny Norman]

I agree, but do we have the cash?

[Spiny Norman]

294 will do nicely, methinks.

[Spiny Norman]

294 will do nicely, methinks.

[ChrisfromStroud]

Methought 400 was enough...

[Spiny Norman]

Methought 400 was enough...

Yes, whatever happened to Yorkshire stonewalling?

[Guest]

Howell is a massively underrated batsman!

[Spiny Norman]

Not by me. He looks to be the business, from the innings I've seen.

[Spiny Norman]

Cracking finish yesterday - tedious walkover today. I though it was the limited over games that were supposed to be exciting?

[Guest]

Not by me. He looks to be the business, from the innings I've seen.

very good player.

[ChrisfromStroud]

Stumped Batty???????????

[Spiny Norman]

My God, Leicester were dreadful - how did they win the T20 last year? How?

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Stumped Batty???????????

And another useful cameo with the bat.....

[Carrotdude]

Howell is doing fantastically for you lot, really hope he gets a permanent deal as he could be the rock of your batting line up for years.

[Shelsey93]

Cracking finish yesterday - tedious walkover today. I though it was the limited over games that were supposed to be exciting?

The more I think about it, the more the CB40 is a very poorly thought out competition.

[Spiny Norman]

No, we won't give him a contract and he'll float off somewhere else

We're broke, innnit?

[Spiny Norman]

Cracking finish yesterday - tedious walkover today. I though it was the limited over games that were supposed to be exciting?

The more I think about it, the more the CB40 is a very poorly thought out competition.

Someone thought about it? Really? At least the old two division structure kept everybody interested for most of the season...

[Carrotdude]

I don't mind it being how it is but they need to have quarter finals to keep more teams interested for longer. Two leagues like the Championship would also make sense although there would still end up being a lot of 'dead' games.

[Spiny Norman]

I don't mind it being how it is but they need to have quarter finals to keep more teams interested for longer. Two leagues like the Championship would also make sense although there would still end up being a lot of 'dead' games.

If you think about it, with the two division structure, most teams were interested for 2/3 of the season, with chasing promotion or avoiding relegation. With the current structure, a team's season can be effectively over after just three games.

[Shelsey93]

Two leagues for one-day cricket was quite a poor format. Teams didn't care enough to make Division Two interesting for the spectators, and teams didn't care enough to make 'survival' a priority if they fell out of the Division One title race.

The problems with this competition are:

- It is so hard to get out of the group, that it quickly becomes impossible (leading to second string teams). Some teams don't even go at full tilt until they know they are a couple of games away from potentially qualifying.
- The knockout stages tend to be played on damp September games in front of mostly empty stadiums. There is therefore no 'occasion' to quailify for as there used to be.
- 40 overs falls between two formats, making it awkward to follow for a fan already having to follow three other formats. However, there are good commercial and cricketing reasons for it.

My preference would be for the same format used for the 2009 FP Trophy. That was 50 overs per side, in 4 groups of 5 (we'd have to drop the Unicorns sadly), playing 8 games each. With quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final in mid-summer.

A straight knockout format is great for the fans, but couldn't be the only one-day competition, and I struggle to justify having more than one such tournament.

The irony is that the Championship (other than perhaps the actual scheduling of matches) and the T20 now follow exactly the format that most players and fans want. This one-day competition is an issue, as it has become a 'damp squib' which is clearly subservient to the other two competitions.

[Spiny Norman]

The irony is that the Championship (other than perhaps the actual scheduling of matches) and the T20 now follow exactly the format that most players and fans want. This one-day competition is an issue, as it has become a 'damp squib' which is clearly subservient to the other two competitions.

I'd go along with that. I doubt that there were signficantly more spectators at Nevil Road for Sunday's CB40 than on the Saturday of the CC game.

[Spiny Norman]

The irony is that the Championship (other than perhaps the actual scheduling of matches) and the T20 now follow exactly the format that most players and fans want. This one-day competition is an issue, as it has become a 'damp squib' which is clearly subservient to the other two competitions.

Just to take up your other point, I find it ridiculous that there's not a single real game of cricket at Bristol in either June or July. If I'd have known that this would be the case, I most assuredly wouldn't have taken out Life Membership. I envisaged watching cricket at my local ground in Summer sunshine, not in the icy blasts of early April and late September. I thought that cricket was our Summer game - clearly I was wrong!

[Guest]

CB40 all it needs is a quarter final IMO.

[Spiny Norman]

CB40 all it needs is a quarter final IMO.

Problem there is seven games in late September - a couple of damp weeks and there'll be a lot of bowling at stumps...

[Spiny Norman]

Nice to hear the Sky commentator today mention Jack's leg side stumping off Devon Malcolm. IMHO the best keeper I've seen in my 58 years at the cricket...

[Guest]

how's old jon batty doing this year?

[ChrisfromStroud]

Old JB is back in the 1st XI.
And obviously very nearly as good as Jack.


PS Spiny's HO is correct.
Some of his stumpings during the Gloucs 1-day glory years were utterly sublime.
There's one I remember where he pauses for a fraction of a second, waiting for the batsman to overbalance and lift his foot, before whipping off the bails.

There is a road next to the site of the old Stroud Cricket Ground called "Jack Russell Close".
The local planners missed a trick here; it should have been called "Jack Russell's Close".

As in, man gets in taxi. "Jack Russell's Close, driver."
"Yes, I know. He's standing up to the stumps again."

(With apologies to Tommy Cooper).

[ChrisfromStroud]

[1] Northants 411 & 246-5 dec
Gloucs 268 all out & 268 all out
Nothing if not consistent.

[2] Batty: 1st innings 9, 2nd innings 7
Well, that solved the wicketkeeper-batsman problem then.

[3] Good to see Gidman Major employing a greater variety of bowlers.
Anyone know why Young didn't bowl in the 2nd innings?

[Spiny Norman]

Another sparkling 2 by JB today...

[ChrisfromStroud]

Compare and contrast:
A score of 2 as opener (this match) vs a score of 7 batting at number 8 (last match).....
Which is better?
(a) 2
(b) 7
(c) neither

[ChrisfromStroud]

Gloucs redevelopment plans finally approved!!
Though I would have preferred it if HQ had moved to Gloucester.
Still, the club want to stay in Bristol.
Now, please can we buy Chris Taylor back from Somerset?

[Spiny Norman]

Gloucs redevelopment plans finally approved!!
Though I would have preferred it if HQ had moved to Gloucester.
Still, the club want to stay in Bristol.
Now, please can we buy Chris Taylor back from Somerset?

No, we'd have to pay him what he's worth, and that would never do. Maybe we could swap him for JB?

[ChrisfromStroud]

Excellent suggestion Spiny!
Rank in order (other than alphabetical):
Jon Batty, Jos Buttler, Craig Kieswetter, Steve Snell.
Reverse this order, and send result to Somerset.

[Spiny Norman]

Batty 0

That'll knock his average - down to around five

[Spiny Norman]

3.6 actually

[Guest]

the constant Jonathon Batty bashing isnt funny anymore....

its actually pretty tedious....

[Spiny Norman]

Who's trying to be funny? 18 runs in 5 innings simply isn't good enough.

[ChrisfromStroud]

how's old jon batty doing this year?

20 May

the constant Jonathon Batty bashing isnt funny anymore....
its actually pretty tedious....

1 June

Is this the same CF?

Sorry CF that you are fed up after a week and a bit. We at Gloucs are fed up after a season and a bit.

Gloucs "let go" two 30-year old keepers in Steve Adshead and Steve Snell, both very decent and sometimes match-winning players. Furthermore they do not seem to have taken up promising local Louis Gegg from his emerging player contract.

Instead, we now have to tolerate a 38-year old (in the middle of a 3-year contract) whose best years are definitely behind him, who is consistently worse than either Adshead or Snell.... yet who somehow keeps coming in and out of the side.
He was recently brought back into the team to replace Coughtrie who "has had a bit of a rough ride with the bat." Maybe, but not as rough as 18 in 5 innings (thanks SN).

The target of the criticism is the coach/selector/chairman/purse-string-holder, not Jon Batty. I have nothing personally against JB. He's probably a nice chap who is trying his best. What annoys me (and probably Spiny too) is the inequitable treatment by the "management" of Adshead, Snell and Batty.


Oh yes, and he used to play for Surrey

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