Gloucestershire under GrahamB (story)

[GrahamB]

Good luck Graham. A very good toss to win. Hopefully you can nullify the influence of Stokes and your strong seam attack can rip through their brittle, albeit long, middle/lower order.

Leicestershire and Glamorgan wouldn't happen to be playing against each other?

Cheers mate.

No - Glamorgan are playing away to Kent while Leicestershire have a home game against Lancashire.

[GrahamB]

Turns out that the only time the pitch at Durham showed any sign of life was on the first day when we were batting.

Our plan was always to bat through the first day and then declare, putting the home side in to bat during the very cloudy/rainy second day.
However, at 121/6, our plans were in complete disarray.
Fortunately, Ferisco Adams and Ryan Higgins came to our rescue, allowing us to declare at 305/7.
It was cruel to leave Adams on 95no, but plans are pplans.

Alex Lees and Cameron Steel got Durham off to a solid start, putting on 81 for the first wicket.
When the innings was at 168/4, with Ben Stokes back in the dressing room, we were still looking for that important first innings lead.
But the pitch was dead and the ball wasn't moving around as much as we'd hoped.
Durham batted all through the rain interrupted second day and into the third.
Almost all of the batsmen down to Mark Wood at number 10 contributed, as our bowlers tried everything without reward.
When Durham were finally all out for 496, it was us fighting to avoid a loss!
James Weighall, Ned Eckersley and Ben Raine all scored half centuries, while Ferisco Adams stood alone amongst our bowlers, finishing with 6/125.

Miles Hammond and Benny Howell steadied our nerves with an opening partnership of 82, but once Howell had gone, Ian Cockbain was hit flush on the helmet and had to retire hurt with only one run to his name.
Hammond stood firm and went on to complete his fourth FC century of the season. He got good support from 19 year old Ben Charlesworth in particular.
With no real chance of winning, we batted through to safety at 402/9 declared and then let our bowlers torture the Durham openers for half an hour.


Gloucestershire - 305/7 declared (F.Adams-95no, R.Higgins-51no)

Durham - 496 (B.Raine-84, J.Weighell-83, N.Eckersley-73, F.Adams -6/125)

Gloucestershire - 402/9 declared (M.Hammond-135, B.Charlesworth-64, A.McBrine-3/130)

Durham - 32/0

Match drawn.





Wow! Promotion - just!

[GrahamB]

Leading FC Stats - Gloucestershire 2020

Batting

Tom Hellawell - 1075 runs @ 56.58
Miles Hammond - 1155 runs @ 46.20
Anthony Hunt - 735 runs @ 43.24
Ferisco Adams - 599 runs @ 42.79
Benny Howell - 624 runs @ 41.60
Ryan Higgins - 347 runs @ 38.56
Ian Cockbain - 911 runs @ 36.44
Gareth Roderick - 575 runs @ 33.82

Bowling

Oliver Robinson - 54 wickets @ 23.52
Ferisco Adams - 54 wickets @ 24.84
Ryan Higgins - 37 wickets @ 35.49
David Payne - 23 wickets @ 29.22
Graeme van Buuren - 18 wickets @ 31.44

[GrahamB]

Just got offered the managerial role at Sussex, but I'll stick with Gloucestershire.

[jazzyfizzle0]

Great achievement!

[MarksNotts]

Congrats Graham, Top achievement

[GrahamB]

Contracts 2021 Season

Terminated

James Bracey (wk)
Matt Taylor

Renewed

Benny Howell
Tom Hellawell
Ben Charlesworth
Gareth Roderick (wk)
Ferisco Adams (overseas player)
David Payne

Released

Chris Dent
Graeme van Buuren
Abrar Kazi (reserve overseas player)
Nathan Sowter

New Signings

Jake Goodwin (opening batsman)
Anthony Copperfield (batsman)
Ben Brown (keeper/batsman)
Henry McKenzie (reserve overseas player)
Phil Bramble (pace bowler)
Sukhjit Singh (spin bowler)

[GrahamB]

GLOUCESTERSHIRE SQUAD 2021

Opening Batsmen

Miles Hammond
Jake Goodwin
Benny Howell

Other Batsmen

Tom Hellawell
Anthony Hunt
Anthony Copperfield
Ian Cockbain
Ben Charlesworth
Gareth Roderick (wk)
Ben Brown (wk)

All-Rounders

Ryan Higgins (pace bowler)
Ferisco Adams (South Africa - pace bowler)
Harry McKenzie (Australia - pace bowler)

Pace Bowlers

Oliver Robinson
David Payne
Phil Bramble
Stu Whittingham

Spin Bowlers

Sukhjit Singh
Mark Watt

[GrahamB]

Great achievement!

Thanks. Now to survive Division1.

[GrahamB]

Congrats Graham, Top achievement

Thanks. Didn't too badly with the squad we had.

I wonder how much tougher Division 1 will be.

[GrahamB]

Cambridge MCCU v Gloucestershire

I've decided to rest most key players to give the fringe players a chance to show where they're at.


Gloucestershire

J.Goodwin
B.Howell
I.Cockbain
B.Brown (wk and captain)
B.Charlesworth
G.Roderick
R.Higgins
P.Bramble
M.Watt
S.Singh
S.Whittingham

[DaveRobbo]

Well done Graham - brilliant!

[GrahamB]

Well done Graham - brilliant!

Thanks. Very pleased with that season.
Must get better at OD and T20 games though.

[bryce87]

May we get an introduction to your new signings? A few look like regens?

[GrahamB]

May we get an introduction to your new signings? A few look like regens?

Sure thing.

New Signings

There were slim pickings as far as opening batsmen available to sign.
23 year old Jake Goodwin has only played one T20 game. No first class or OD cricket.
Looked worth a punt, so let's see if my gut instinct was right.

Anthony Copperfield seemed to be one of the best youth players that had been promoted by their club during the season, and his stats backed that up.
Much in the same way that we acquired Anthony Hunt last season, so should be good!

Keeper/batsman Ben Brown is 32 years old and a proven performer with 19 FC hundreds to his name.
The only other worthwhile option was Harry Kuhn - a superb player, but going on 37 years old soon, so possibly on the decline.

Reserve overseas player, Aussie Harry McKenzie, is an all-rounder who bowls pace.
Although in a lower price bracket than Ferisco Adams, he looks to be a like-for-like replacement and could well surprise. Should always be available when Adams is away.

21 year old pace bowler, Phil Bramble, has good stats from his previous club and is a nice addition to our pace bowling stocks.

24 year old spin bowler, Sukhjit Singh, has good stats for a spinner and was the best available (aside from Andy McBrine who was too expensive for me, and George Dockrell).