T20: Northants 162 beat Gloucestershire 152-7 by 10 runs
Gloucestershire again went down in the second-innings of a Twenty20 match, as their chances of progression were left hanging by a thread, as a seemingly impossible-to-lose chase turned to defeat to leave the Shire on the verge of elimination.
Chasing 163 to win at Bristol seemed a cakewalk after Hamish Marshall blitzed through the powerplay at above 10-an-over to leave what was sure to be a comfortable stroll to the winning margin, but his quite unnecessary dismissal in the final over of powerplay turned the match.
He had played some quite delightful strokes making 42 from 22 balls and the required rate had tumbled to a very modest Twenty20 level. However, Glos' achilles heel again intervened and six middle order wickets went down for just 40 runs, and the 33 from 18 balls proved too much for the tail.
There was a collective sigh of disappointment as the game slipped away from the home side, as most people expected to be driving home as Gemaal Hussain swung and missed at the penultimate ball, needed two sixes for victory. What a disappointment it was. Marshall played wonderfully to set the position up, but the experience of neither Spearman or Taylor could steer the Shire home when required.
It required someone to assert themselves and play properly in knocking off what was close to a run-a-ball after Marshall's innings, but no-one stood up and, as has been experienced, required rates can escalate rapidly in the short form of the game. Batsman were blocking three balls before even looking where they could perhaps score - a repeat of Monday's game when the target was also in sight, but slipped away.
It had been a decent performance in the field, with two possible hat-tricks dampening the Northants innings well, but the performance with the bat has effectively made tomorrow's match at Edgbaston a do-or-die scenario - and we've not even reached the second phase of the group stages.
I'm still very much at a loss as to how we threw that one away, but a few points from me nonetheless and like I said after the Worcs game, I think we're very close to a being very good side - we're just on the wrong side of that line at the moment.
ReplyDelete1. Selection. I don't see how we can justify playing 5 bowlers at the moment. Fair enough in the longer forms of the game it can work, but now without Franklin there we appear to have the longest tail in the world! We didn't need 2 spinners last night, especially if Daws is only going to bowl 2 overs - we need another batsman in there.
2. Early wickets. I know the big collapse came later, but Harvey was always the big wicket and I'm not sure how Lewis dropped that sitter. Not getting the early wickets has ultimately cost us this week and that was a big one.
3. Our batting. Did we get complacent at 98-1? Was it just that Hall did what we all know he can do and block up an end? No excuses here, what the hell Marshall (who batted brilliantly otherwise) and Spearman were trying to achieve I don't know but their dismissals were unnecessary. The runout was a farce also.
4. Our 'support'. This annoys me big time. What the hell is wrong with some people?? Twice this week I've sat in front of a group of people who have readily written us off after 12 overs of a chase. In fact it was after Hamish was out yesterday one of them said 'well that's that then' and proceeded to moan about losing - for fuck sake man, it's 98-2 after 10 chasing 163 in a T20 game, how can you be that negative??? - surely your words would be better directed towards supporting the team. (I guess it made me cheer louder but that's not the point). Do people not remember the fighting spirit we've shown in the last decade? If you're so certain we've lost, go home and moan on a message board/to your dog/etc..., we don't need you dragging the crowd atmosphere down and therefore passing negative vibes onto the pitch. (rant over!)
5. A lighter point. Why is Hodnett down as G Mol on the bbc?? - is it like a Nel-Gunter thing he's got going?
Other than point 4, this is why it strikes me that we're very close to a good team, just get the little things going our way in moments of the game and it can all turn around. Glad to get all that off my chest! Thoughts? :-)
Could the blame be placed on Marshall, there was really no need for him to come charging down the pitch when Glos were in such a promising position, I agree with you When. oh guess what, as I wrote that Marshall's been bowled for 5! Good to see Gidders firing again even though there was a stupid run out, if he'd stayed in, well who knows.
ReplyDeleteYeah, 5 bowlers, if it's a batsman's paradise fair enough,but you need a decent seven and eight if the ball or pitch are doing something.
The BBC say that Lewis is captaining tonight? Is he?