Gloucestershire under GrahamB (story)

[MateGaming]

Congratulations on promotion - hope Division One goes just as well for you.

My attention was drawn to the signing of Jake Goodwin - I watched his Hampshire debut against Somerset and he looked impressive, but was released afterwards and heard nothing more of him. Hope you can resurrect his career!

[GrahamB]

Congratulations on promotion - hope Division One goes just as well for you.

My attention was drawn to the signing of Jake Goodwin - I watched his Hampshire debut against Somerset and he looked impressive, but was released afterwards and heard nothing more of him. Hope you can resurrect his career!

Cheers.

Jake just made an unbeaten double century in his first class debut in my game (in the university match), so should do well.

[MateGaming]

Cheers.

Jake just made an unbeaten double century in his first class debut in my game (in the university match), so should do well.

Not a bad way to impress on debut!

[GrahamB]

Gloucestershire - 435/2 declared (J.Goodwin-218*, B.Brown-101*, I.Cockbain-67)

Cambridge MCCU - 378 (A.Midlane-106, P.Highsmith-101, A.Eldershaw-58, M.Watt-3/72)

Gloucestershire - 192/4 declared (I.Cockbain-91)

Cambridge MCCU - 61/2

Match drawn.


Nice first class debut for Jake Goodwin!

Going into our first FC game in Division 1, my main concern is the form of Ryan Higgins.
Also, not sure how either of our spin bowlers are likely to handle the big-time.

[GrahamB]

FC Match 1 - Away v Yorkshire

Tough assignment first up!
I've decided to rest Ryan Higgins, and go with a pace trio of Ferisco Adams, Phil Bramble and Oliver Robinson.
Mark Watt will play, as there might be good turn later in the game.


Gloucestershire

J.Goodwin
M.Hammond
I.Cockbain
T.Hellawell
A.Copperfield
B.Brown (wk and capt)
A.Hunt
F.Adams
P.Bramble
M.Watt
O.Robinson


Yorkshire

A.Lyth
J.Root
G.Ballance
J.Leaning
J.Tattersall (wk)
M.Waite
D.Willey
D.Short
A.Rashid
B.Coad
D.Olivier

[GrahamB]

Yorkshire - 395 (J.Tattersall-98, D.Willey-64, M.Waite-62, M.Watt-6/129, O.Robinson-3/75)

Gloucestershire - 195 (F.Adams-76*, B.Coad-4/53, A.Rashid-3/48)

Gloucestershire (following on) - 419 (I.Cockbain-89, J.Goodwin-71, A.Rashid-5/108, D.Olivier-3/122)

Yorkshire - 160 (J.Root-79*, F.Adams-4/29, M.Watt-3/48, O.Robinson-3/50)

Win to Gloucestershire by 59 runs.


Well as you can see, we're up to our old tricks again!

Yorkshire won the toss and predictably decided to bat.
We were quite satisfied with the morning's work when we had them at 86/4, but what early life there was in the pitch had now gone.
Or pacemen were finding it really tough going, so we were extremely thankful that slow left-armer Mark Watt chose this match to reap the rewards of all the hard work he's had in long term technique training.
The Yorkshire middle order of Jonathan Tattersall, Matthew Waite and David Willey all took advantage of the easier conditions to take the home side through to a healthy 395 all out.
Mark Watt finished with 6/129.

Jake Goodwin and Miles Hammond got us off to a safe start, but then calamity, as our first six wickets fell within the space of 40 runs.
Ben Coad and Adil Rashid were the orchestrators of the collapse.
Ferisco Adams had been disappointing with the ball, but came to our aid with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 76 to almost get us past 200.

Regardless, we were still enforced to follow on, and despite some heroic recoveries from similarly dire situations last season, this is Division 1!
New captain Ben Coad, with the assistance of popular ex-captain Ian Cockbain, gave the lads a stirring pep-talk before the second innings. He said that Gloucestershire was renowned for their fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude, and that was why he was so proud to have joined the club. He urged us all to dig deep so that we could go away from this game with our heads still high.
Goodwin and Hammond put on 81 for the first wicket to get us off to a better start.
Six of our batsmen proceeded to go past 40, as we went on to go 219 runs to the good!
All this on a sharply turning wicket, with Adil Rashid displaying all his wiles to finish with a well-deserved 5/108.

Yorkshire only had 220 to chase for victory in roughly 4 hours and 40 minutes.
Despite the sharply turning pitch, I felt that we were still the underdogs.
However, despite Joe Root's obstinacy, the wickets kept falling at the other end, as our bowlers bowled superbly.
At the end, Root was still there, stranded on 79*, with his side still 59 runs short. We had won!

[GrahamB]

Now we're straight into the OD games.

[GrahamB]

OD Match 1

Always nice to start off a campaign with a win.

Surrey won the toss and chose to bat first.
Tight bowling, especially from Phil Bramble and Benny Howell, kept the home side in check, and their final score was one that gave us a chance.

At 53/3, our travelling fans could feel the tension, as the outcome hung in the balance.
Then the quality of our middle order players shone through, with Tom Hellawell, Anthony Copperfield and Anthony Hunt ensuring that victory would be ours.


Surrey - 242/6 (D.Elgar-81, J.Roy-54, O.Pope-45, P.Bramble-3/21)

Gloucestershire - 246/5 (A.Copperfield-89*, A.Hunt-52, T.Hellawell-47)

Win to Gloucestershire by 5 wickets.

[GrahamB]

OD Match 2

We got well and truly smashed by the big hitters at the top of the Middlesex top order.

Put into bat first, it was always going to be hard to recover from 49/4, but thanks to another gem of an innings from Anthony Copperfield, with good support from Anthony Hunt and the lower order, we got through to a more than respectable score.

However, Paul Stirling, Dawid Malan, Stevie Eskinazi and Eoin Morgan took our bowling attack to pieces!
Middlesex romped home to victory in just the 40th over!


Gloucestershire - 263/8 (A.Copperfield-84*, A.Hunt-43, R.Topley-3/51)

Middlesex - 267/3 (D.Malan-82, S.Eskinazi-77*, P.Stirling-65, M.Watt-3/59)

Win to Middlesex by 7 wickets.

[DaveRobbo]

I'm no longer surprised by these miraculous turnarounds. You're never beaten until the final wicket has been taken/run scored, probably the best trait to have!

[bryce87]

Wow tough assignments first up! You know you are doing something right when you beat full strength Yorkshire! I can get never get Eskinazi out when I play Middlesex - last time I played him he got twin 100s!

Speaking of not being able to get players out, you know that tip I gave you for getting out very aggressive players? Turns out, despite it being very effective in CC18, it does not work in CC19 (see picture below for damage inflicted to my team by two very aggressive batsmen!) Very aggressive batsmen appear to have added powers in FC games in CC19, because in CC18 they simply were not that good in the longer form. So personally I am trying to sign them all up to my team now haha.

[GrahamB]

.........Speaking of not being able to get players out, you know that tip I gave you for getting out very aggressive players? Turns out, despite it being very effective in CC18, it does not work in CC19 (see picture below for damage inflicted to my team by two very aggressive batsmen!) Very aggressive batsmen appear to have added powers in FC games in CC19, because in CC18 they simply were not that good in the longer form. So personally I am trying to sign them all up to my team now haha....

LOL. Next best strategy!

[GrahamB]

OD Match 3

Kent won the toss and decided to bat first.
They put up a big score, spanking our bowlers around the park.
Aussie Matt Renshaw led the way with a fine century, while ex-Gloucestershire man Jack Taylor hit a particularly brutal half century.
Phil Bramble was the best of our bowlers, finishing with 2/53.

We made an aggressive start in reply, losing both openers for not too much.
However, 34 year old Ian Cockbain stepped up to the mark with the fourth OD hundred of his career to steer us through to a fantastic victory.
He had excellent support from Tom Hellawell and Anthony Hunt (both of whom scored half centuries), plus Ferisco Adams at the end.
Our biggest ever run chase to win a OD match.


Kent - 326/8 (M.Renshaw-101, J.Taylor-64*, Z.Crawley-57, D.Bell-Drummond-46)

Gloucestershire - 330/6 (I.Cockbain-127*, T.Hellawell-61, A.Hunt-57)

Win to Gloucestershire by 4 wickets.

[kanegan]

Great chase. I have never been able to chase 300+ so far so KIU.

[sambodinho]

One game to go in the FC season ... Only won once, bottom of the table, yet we have the most batting points of any team and only 3 fewer bowling points than the best ... crazy!