It’s been quite a week in Bristol. We shared the joy of a Glos triumph fifty years ago, and watched with increasing anxiety as the current team had some less than glorious sessions. Let’s start with the good though.
After the carnage against Somerset in the last Blast game, we looked forward to the prospect of a sedate 4-day game against Leicestershire. A game that that looked winnable, a chance to get the season back on track. The weather forecast was a mixed bag, maybe though we would see some decent cricket in a relaxed setting.
There was a small gathering of friends in place on the Sunday morning for the opening session. Good to see “C” back in the ground, he has been avoiding games with larger crowds for health reasons. No problem with that today! Also, in situ were “S” and “J”. Glos won the toss, batted and did so pretty comfortably for forty minutes or so, Dent and Charlesworth taking us to 38 without loss. Then as “S” was in the ground, it started to rain, as it seemingly always does when he is around. “S” is the modern-day equivalent of Denis Howell the Labour MP, famously appointed to deal with the long drought of 1976, with a week of his appointment the UK was hit with heavy rain and flooding. He turned from Minister for Drought to Minister for Rain. Should such a crisis arise again, I nominate “S” who will certainly produce precipitation.
The rain was heavy enough to look for cover in the pavilion area. Whilst we were heading there, news emerged of some unusual pre-match antics, which most of missed. The flats that we normally sit in front of have large balconies, perfect for watching the cricket from with a few friends. Sunday though saw a couple take advantage of the available space to run through a vigorous workout routine, that involved neither clothes nor embarrassment. I was shown a picture of the Leicestershire players on the outfield, looking towards a very different opening pair. As I understand it, they were in and out several times but unlike the cricketers, that wasn’t because of the rain!
There was a lengthy break in play. Fortunately though there was a fantastic treat instore for us. The day was scheduled as former players day, a popular day each season. This one though was extra special as 50 years Glos had won their first trophy, in the shape of The Gillette Cup. Andy Brassington had advised us a couple of days earlier that several of that team would be in attendance, including the stars of the that special team Zaheer Abbas and Mike Procter.
True to his word they were both there, suddenly a group of middle aged folk like me, were giddy teenagers again. Memories of bottles of squash in haversacks, playing cricket on the outfield during breaks, watching Zaheer play the most effortless, elegant drives, cuts and flicks. Procter flaying poor bowlers to all corners of the ground, then storming in to scare batters to death when he had the ball in his hand. What times we had, what a team they were part of.
The players spoke of their memories with great warmth. They spoke of their colleagues with great love. The decades rolled away; they were part of the team again. A bond unbroken, held together by a treasure trove of memories of hot summer days, when these West Country folk (no matter where they were born), would take on any team in the country, with skill, passion and fun.
The rain did eventually abate but to be honest I didn’t see much of the last session. Players were happy to chat and I found myself in group including Andy Brassington, Jim Foat (yes the legend that is Foaty), Mark Alleyne and others. Uproarious tales of their youthful hijinks, dodgy landlords and being denied entry to grounds for games that they were playing in. A wonderful afternoon.
I returned on Monday to find Glos starting the day on 108-3. I arrived to find a footballing pal “H” already in place, having arranged a day at the cricket as a birthday treat for his dad “C”. the pair of them are part of the group that I sit with at Ashton Gate for Bristol City games. It was to be the first vist to a Glos game for “C” and it was good to tempt “H” up as he has been leaning towards Somerset following his return to the West Country from his time in London.
Fairly soon, “S” joined us, and it was great to hear of the shared London experiences and locations that he shared with “C”.
On the field things didn’t start well, the skipper GVB departing to the first ball of the day! Not long after James Bracey got one that kept low (as they do when you are struggling for form) and were in trouble at 118-5. Enter the Price bothers Ollie and Tom who calmed our nerves, with skill and determination. Fairly soon ‘M’ had joined us well. Soon another topic emerged, guess the height of the young looking Leicestershire bowler. Various bids came in regarding the 18 year old Josh Hull, ranging from from 6′ 3″ to 6′ 6”, it was confirmed at 6’7”. Though as he is probably still growing it was suggested that he would be 6′ 8” after the lunch break. More on Josh later.
When Tom Price did eventually fall, Zafar joined Ollie and another good partnership was formed. Our chat was wide ranging: the array of train journey options from Yatton Station. The best thing any of us had done on our birthday, which “C” won with the casual “I shook the hand of Pele in Mexico on my birthday”. OK, that wins! The changing face of Gloucester Road since “H” had last been there, also cropped up. All the while runs were accumulating, whisper it softly we were getting within touching distance of a batting point. However, Ollie Price eventually went for his highest Glos score of 85, when Zafar went we were still 28 runs from 250 and that batting point and 8 wickets were down.
Danny Lamb and Ajeet Singh Dale batted superbly, gaining in confidence as the runs started to flow. When Lamb did fall for an excellent 70, Zaman Akhter strode to the wicket. Maybe he would be nervous a pair in his last (and only) outing, but it didn’t show. He played the shot of the day to his first ball, a perfect cover drive, racing to the fence before the Leicestershire fielders could even twitch a muscle. This was fun! Ajeet then completed his maiden 50 and incredibly Glos had reached 368 all out, with 3, yes 3 batting points. Leicester finished the day on 23-0. A brilliant day of County Championship cricket.
The third day was to provide some very unusual events in another gripping days play. The weather was very, very hot indeed. So much so, that I had to move from my normal spot in the sun, to take refuge in the shade of the large scoreboard that towers over the Mound Stand. I was pleased to bump into Twitter pal, Mister Shambolic, lover of Somerset, European second division football, train journeys, continually adding to his pile of books to read and records to listen to, and most appropriately cricket matches being played in front of small crowds.
Leicestershire got off to a decent start, looking like they would look to build a lead and put Glos under a bit of pressure. Gradually the run rate slowed, and the game became attritional. The highlight in the Glos bowling attack was newcomer Zaman Akhtar, who bowled with pace and control, snaffling a couple of wickets for just 5 runs in a 5 over spell. We like the look of this young man.
After lunch the strangeness began. As the third wicket fell, a booming alarm sounded from the pavilion, along with a message to evacuate the building. Off course for a minute or so, every ignored the instruction, tutting about the noisy interruption to the match. Eventually it was clear that an evacuation was required. Quite tricky for some of the more mature members, especially as the lifts could not be used. The players reacted calmy by taking the chance to hit for the turf and soak up some rays. Mister Shambolic and I did discuss the chance for Techno Remix of the booming alarm sound. He confirmed that as long it was on vinyl, he would happily purchase it. Could be a money-making plan for cash strapped Glos. After a ten-minute delay, the alarm was turned off without signs of any damage to the pavilion and Leicestershire cracked on again.
Mister Shambolic headed back to Somerset and I moved again to escape the blistering sun. This time I sat in front of the smaller scoreboard. This meant that Leicestershire batter Kimber had his back to me, whilst facing the bowling of Ollie Price. Thankfully I had my earpiece switched on listen to commentary from the stream. What looked like an innocuous delivery, elicited a confused looking appeal from a few of the Glos players, and a shout from Dan Whiting on the mic of “He’s caught it, that’s handled ball. He’s out obstructed the field”. The umpires confirmed, and yes it was true. For the first time in around seven years a batter had been dismissed in this way. Can’t believe that I saw it! As a disappointed Mister Shambolic mentioned later, in a few years’ time, thousands will tell the story of what they saw that afternoon. Almost all of them, just like him will not have seen it “live”. They will have seen it though as the video clip went viral. I think that Dan Whiting is now regarded as one of those social media influencers. Expect to see the exciting range of male grooming products that he will soon be launching.
Suddenly everything moved up a notch.Lewis Hill completed his painstaking century with a loud yelp, only to fall soon afterwards to the lively Ahmed for his second wicket of his post-tea spell. Then before we knew it Leicestershire were 350 all out and Glos had secured maximum bowling points and small first innings lead. They ended the day by adding nine runs to that, so 27 ahead in total. A draw still the most likely outcome but some creative thinking from the captains could produce something interesting the last day.
The next morning, everyone was discussing the potential permutations, that could create a result. Early declaration, gung-ho batting to set up a run chase, the naked couple be asked to perform again to distract the batters everything was possible. “S” was back at the ground and remarkably the sun was shining. It could be an interesting day.
Glos got off to a decent start with Chris Dent starting to get a surge on, when the aforementioned Josh Hull had an optimistic LBW shout approved. Hammond and Ollie Price looked to up the run rate, then crucially just before lunch Hammond was out, 132-3. A lead of 154 with 65 overs to come. What would the afternoon bring?
Short answer, misery. A dreadful collapse from Glos, which threw the game firmly into Leicestershire hands. I’m not going to focus on the detail of the afternoon, prefer to talk about a nice aspect that came from it. “S” and I continued the move around the ground plan of the previous day. At the end of the Glos innings, we went up on the roof above The Thatcher’s Café, should be a great view but a couple of things put me off.
I always feel that I’m a very long way from the action. It’s not exactly the top tier of the away end at Newcastle United, but I’d rather be a bit closer to the action. Secondly, it’s where the Olympic quality moaning and groaning seems to take place. Don’t get me wrong cricket fans enjoy a moan almost as much as a Russian oligarch enjoys buying houses in central London, just so they can leave them empty. Around the rest of the ground most of the comments are fairly good natured and self-deprecating. Up on the roof, it never quite feels like that. There is a degree of self-importance that Donald Trump would bulk at.
Consequently, we didn’t hang around for long, we moved to the benches at pitch level near the small scoreboard, where we met up with our friends “I” and ‘T”. I took the chance to nip off to the toilet. When I came back, “S” pointed me in the direction of a lady on a nearby deckchair and said, “It’s the mother of 6’ 7’! Took me a moment to realise it was the previous mentioned Josh Hull’s mum that we were sitting by.
So as Leicestershire made their way toward a victory that at 12:45 was extremely unlikely, we had a lovely chat with her about her son’s route into the game. It was lovely to see her joy and enthusiasm about the huge steps (literally in his case) that he had taken in the last few months. We spoke about the impact the social media can potentially have on players both young and old. The ability that Josh has, to get himself “in the zone”, which can lead to some pretty dull car journeys, the decisions that he made around his contract which were guided primarily by the fact that he just wanted to be a cricketer with a bit of security, in terms of length of contract rather than look for the biggest deal he could. He sounds like a good lad, and when the Glos defeat was confirmed, we wished her well, maybe in his victory excitement, Josh may even have had a chat with her on the way home.
That game finished on Wednesday evening and tempers were fraying amongst Glos supporters in the various social media areas. One of the cricket bloggers who was mentioned in this years Wisden is Pete Aired. As luck would have it Pete wrote a fine piece about social media criticism of the Somerset players after their recent defeat against Essex you can find it on the link below.
I shared this piece in a couple of places. Then Pete got in touch to say that, as part of a family celebration, he would be in Bristol for the game on Saturday evening against Kent. We duly arranged to meet up. The game was another poor one from Glos, short on runs after being put into bat, it was always going to be a struggle. There has been a mid-season reshuffle of the captain and team, but the result was another loss, in a season that is quickly slipping away from us. Even the new warm up routine for the Glos team failed to change our fortunes.
The chat with Pete during the change over was great, it’s always good to know that what bonds us as cricket fans, goes beyond any County affiliations.
As I write this on Sunday evening, I hear that Glos lost again today, this time against Glamorgan in Cardiff. We aren’t quite at Middlesex levels of despair (they are now on a run of 13 straight defeats if you include the final games of last season) but we aren’t going to be qualifying for the knockout stage of The Blast.
Two more home games this week. I’m away for the Tuesday night game but will be back on Thursday to see the game against Sussex Sharks. Then it’s a quick dash onto Gloucester Road, to The Golden Lion, to see our friends The Lovely Basement playing a gig. Hopefully, I will get there in good spirits after a Glos win.
Currently if seems like we are a very long way from that wonderful team of 1973, that we celebrated a few days ago. Things will turn around, they always do. It could take a while though. Maybe we need to hitch a ride to future in the ballon that passed over the ground on Saturday.
Don’t forget to visit Pete’s excellent blog which covers cricket and much more its at: https://peteaird.org
Rain Stopped Play, inspection at 3 