Monday 13 June 2011

Who cares about KP, Glos finally win a Twenty20 game!

Gloucestershire 168 for 6 (Cockbain 78, Dernbach 3-27) beat Surrey 122 (Pietersen 30, Payne 3-20) by 10 runs

The Jessop Tavern View would like to apologise to its fans for the recent lack of posts. Glos' terrible start to the T20 campaign, coupled with a work trip abroad rather dampened our enthusiasm for writing about the Shire.

Anyway, now we are back and we were delighted to see that the boys managed to win a game. Even if it was against perennial under-achievers Surrey. All that investment in Murali looks to be paying off. 1 win out of 5 so far is surely the kind of return Chief Executive Tom Richardson was looking for when he persuaded the great man to rock up at Nevil Road for a couple of years of 4 over spells.

The good thing about games versus Surrey, is that due to their inconsistency, there always the chance of a victory. Not only that; they are somewhat more tech-savvy than the Shire. Thus we get to provide you with video highlights of the match to accompany our prescient analysis. You can find this at the bottom of the post.

Glos lost the toss and were sent in to bat by Grabber Hamilton-Brown. A typically average powerplay saw the boys teetering at 31-3, with O'Mish, O'Brien and Williamson already dismissed. Amazingly, the boys managed to steady the ship and recovered to 85, before Gidders the elder was caught slogging for 28. Even more amazingly, we then cut loose, with Ian Cockbain displaying hitherto unknown powers of aggression to strike 5 sixes in a violent 78 from just 45 balls. He was well-supported by Tiny Taylor (32*) as Glos reached an excellent 168-6.


Despite Archdeacon Meadow featuring some tiny boundaries (even the Jessop Tavern View has struck a couple there, as well as an unfortunate golden duck), we made immediate inroads into their powerful but inconsistent batting lineup.Williamson opened the bowling and dismissed RH-B in the first over as well as having KP brilliantly caught on the boundary by a diving Cockbain. Will this be the cue for 'King' John Bracewell topick him for some T20?

David Payne chipped in with 3-20, including Davies, who gave him so much tap in the opening game and the dangerous Tom Maynard. Richard Coughtrie impressed with the gloves, stumping two batsmen and again keeping tidily. Surely Jon Batty's Glos career is virtually over at this point? Oh yeah, Murali bowled tidily and took 2-28. You kind of expect that kind of performance as a minimum from your marquee overseas signing though.

A thumping win then and one the boys will hope to repeat on Wednesday night v Kent at their Beckenham out ground. The Jessop Tavern View has played there as well and it's a bit of a road. Let's hope for some fireworks from the boys to get the T20 campaign back on track before the break for Championship action at the weekend.



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