T20: Worcestershire 145-7 beat Gloucestershire 122 by 23 runs
Gloucestershire again failed in half of the game at New Road to slip to an opening game defeat in the Twenty20 cup.
After performing well being asked to bowl first, the Shire restricted Worcestershire to just 145-7 from 20 overs, but a terribly-managed chase left Glos 23 runs short - a huge disappointment given the first half of the game and an opening stand of 41.
But Hamish Marshall played his usual quick-fire innings and that sparked a ridiculous collapse - worse than that experienced at the Oval recently, with nine wickets falling for just 52 runs.
Nobody, save Will Porterfield briefly and Jon Lewis' late heroics, dedicated a moment's thought to reading the game situation. The target was just above 7-an-over - quite frankly a doddle in Twenty20 - and yet the batsman played like they were chasing 17-an-over.
The key to a run-chase is to preserve wickets; even if the rate climbed to 8/9-an-over, so long as no less than seven wickets were intact, the target would have been easily achievable. But the gung-ho attitude the Glos batsman went out with was one of the most unprofessional things one has seen.
Alex Gidman's miserable form in one-day cricket continued, as his registered a fourth-ball duck. If he is only playing five specialist batsman, he has got to start weighing in with runs - if this continues then his place must surely be in doubt if the balance of the side is to remain as it is.
What made the defeat even more frustrating was that it had been an excellent effort by the Glos five-man attack, with Gemaal Hussain bowling with pace and enjoying a dream debut as his four overs claimed 2-17. In stark contrast to the other pace bowler, as Steve Kirby showed why he is always doubted in one-day cricket by going for above 10-an-over; although his extra pace did take three wickets.
Richard Dawson bowled tidily in conceding 26 in four overs, although nothing to suggest he will be a permanent replacement for Vikram Banerjee. Talking of spinners, the ex-Shire Ian Fisher popped up with 3-13 to shove two fingers up to the Nevil Road management and significantly contribute to the 23-run win.
This is a disappointing start to the T20 campaign. As snowy mentioned, a chase of 146 is nothing major in this form of the game and to be bowled out for 122 is pretty average. I'm also a bit concerned by Gidders' form, since he scored that big hundred in the CC he hasn't seemed to do anything with the bat. We're also looking a little prone to collapse, plenty to work on here methinks.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree Will, significant room for improvement, & i reckon it's all in the head - panick floods through the team far too easily I think.
ReplyDeleteThe manner of defeat was poor. Porterfield's 25 was awful & he should have been out two or three times before he finally fell to Mitchells slow / medium pacers (and he was the pick of the specialist batsmen!). Strategy of 5 batsmen is great IF you have 5 batsmen in some sort of one-day form. Gidman can only really play if as a sixth batsman who will bowl a couple of overs as well - which probably means we can't afford to play him! I think Bracewell will have to make a tough decision on this very soon.
ReplyDeleteAfter tonight's debacle, the onus must be on the batsmen to prove they are up to the job.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you need to write a new match report snowy - just change the title on this one...
ReplyDeleteDisappointing again, although a result in Taunton and who knows - two games in the fortress that is Bristol and it could all change around.
One point, why isn't Gidman bowling himself? - I hope it's not because of his new 'responsibilities' batting at 3...
For pity's sake! Again the bowlers perform very well...same old story Gidman's out for three - surely he cannot retain his place in the team? Hamish Marshall tries to hoik one over the bowler's head and is out...again to a careless, reckless shot. The best indicator of the poor performance of Gloucestershire's supposedly excellent batting line up is that the highest partnership was put on by two tailenders for the last wicket, and it was the highest partnership by a clear margin. We need action now!
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