Inept bowling costs Glos dear

We’ve seen some inept bowling performances from Gloucestershire in recent seasons, but this must surely rank amongst the worst. I followed the entire game via the local radio commentary and at times it was nothing short of embarrassing. Once again we were faced with the curious business of Gidman returning to the side and taking the captaincy from Jon Lewis even though Lewis was in the side.

Unfortunately Gidman did nothing to suggest he will make a better captain. From his first decision to put Worcestershire into bat on a perfect batting wicket to his one-over experiments with Marshall, Hardinges & Taylor, which cost a total of 53 runs, nothing much went right.  Some of his bowling changes gave the impression of panic, of a person who had lost control.

Of course it doesn’t help when your two leading bowlers start with wides, leg-stump half-volleys and full-tosses, neither does the (presumably) committee decision to select Brendan Drew for (hopefully) his second and last game for the county.  He conceded 60 runs in his seven overs, to add to the 50 runs he conceded in his first game, when, according to Jack Russell he was sure to be nervous. Why select him, then, Jack?  Why not stick with one of the existing staff – maybe even one who isn’t about to get the sack.

Chasing such a daunting total was never going to be easy, but to give credit where it’s due, Kadeer & Marshall gave us a great start, rattling up 92 runs in 9 overs before the former hit across the line to a straight one.  Marshall also fell a few balls later, mistiming a slower delivery from Whelan, and with Spearman missing again after a reaction to his facial injury, and North back with Australia, one had the feeling it would be difficult to maintain this impressive rate of scoring. And so it proved. Gidman looked ill at ease again, and managed only 9 before falling lbw – a familiar dismissal for him.  Hardinges did his best but was not as fluent as against Somerset a week ago, and Brown soon holed out – on the very occasion we really needed him to score a quick 50.

Taylor played an excellent innings and got good, though brief, support from Drew, Adshead & Dawson, but Gloucestershire could not manage to score consistently at the required rate of 12 and 15 runs an over. He was last out in the final over for a 61-ball 79, in a final total of 295, very creditable in most circumstances, but not when chasing 317 to win. 

The Worcestershire innings was boosted by 17 wides from the Gloucestershire attack, a quite disgraceful statistic, especially when you lose by only 21 runs.  It should also be remembered that Worcestershire were without 3 of their first-choice bowlers, and Graham Hick was also missing, so if ever there was a good chance to beat them, this was surely it.

I hope the players and the cricket committee will have a long hard think about this game during the next few days.  Winning the Pro-40 could have been the silver-lining in a very depressing season yet they seem to have thrown away the opportunity in a few hours of madness.    Mark Alleyne was an excellent captain and to-date has not been satisfactorily replaced. The members and supporters deserve better than this.