Bob Willis Trophy, Round 3
Glamorgan v Gloucestershire
15/08/2020
Day 1
Both sides need the win to retain some interest in the
competition.
In this situation, to lose the day to rain was a disaster
for both sides, but there was never very much chance of getting on the field with
a lot of water on the covers and more rain falling throughout the day.
Day 2
With one day lost already, the
last thing that this match needed was to lose half of the second day too. With
more rain forecast, it may take some collusion from the captains to force a
result although, in this strangest of seasons, it is not clear that that will
happen, even if enough play is possible on the last two days to make it an
option.
For what it is worth,
Gloucestershire named what was likely to be the best side to try and force a
result in bowler-friendly conditions, with Tom Lace replacing Jack Taylor and
David Payne replacing spinner, Tom Smith, to give stronger batting and a
powerful, 5-man seam attack. In contrast, Glamorgan, unexpectedly, did decide
to play a spinner: did they know something that we do not?
A desperately slow morning
mini-session saw the Glamorgan openers survive, but with the bowlers exercising
a such a stranglehold, including 36 consecutive dot balls, that it was
astonishing that no wickets fell. Josh Shaw changed that straight after the
interval with two superb deliveries to remove both openers in consecutive
overs. With Matt Taylor, David Payne and George Scott chipping-in with wickets,
Glamorgan staggered to 71-5, leaving Billy Root hanging-on with Douthwaite until
Tea.
Sadly for the Shire, a downpour during
the Tea interval ended play for the day and, with just 48 overs possible over the first
two days, more rain expected and Somerset seemingly well on the way to victory
against Warwickshire, Gloucestershire’s interest in the competition looks to be
in the propinquity of its ultimate and regrettable termination.
At 80-5, the only remote hope for
the Shire of a uncontrived result is to finish the innings off quickly in the
morning and to try to get enough of a lead to allow a victory push on the last
day. It would need a lot of luck with the weather and some very good play from Gloucestershire
and correspondingly poor from Glamorgan to make it possible. Do not bet too
much on it happening.
Day 3
Let us get one thing straight. If,
as appears likely, Somerset finish off Warwickshire, to make it three wins from
three, even an unlikely defeat to Gloucestershire in the penultimate round
would leave them strong favourites still to win the Group, needing only a draw and
a reasonable haul of bonus points in their final game against Worcestershire.
There is an “if” and a “but” if the weather plays favourites, however, three
wins and two draws which, on this year’s scoring system, is equivalent to four
wins, should get a team very close to the Final and three wins and a draw will
be competitive in a Group, but unlikely to be enough to qualify.
The bottom line is that
Gloucestershire had to make the running and use what play was available to best
effect. Well, they have done it and in style. The only downside was that, after
polishing off the Glamorgan innings quickly in the morning, the need to chase
quick runs meant that a batting point was sacrificed in the attempt to move the
game along quickly. Batsmen took risks that they would not normally have taken
and wickets fell. However, after losing both openers quickly, Graeme van
Buuren, Tom Lace and, especially, Ryan Higgins, scored runs quickly and in
great enough quantity that Gloucestershire have a real chance of winning.
David Payne was irresistible in
the morning and, if Ryan Higgins was not quite up to his usual standards,
straying just a little in line and length, Payne showed just what the Shire
were missing from their attack in the Warwickshire win. And then Josh Shaw came
on and took the last wicket with just his third delivery of the morning.
If the lead of 65 was many fewer
than it might have been had quick runs not been the priority, Chris Dent wanted
to get the Glamorgan openers back in and take a couple of wickets. Selman and Hemphrey
survived the 14 overs, but the score – 23-0 at the Close – shows just how tough
the Gloucestershire bowlers made it.
Glamorgan start the final day 42
behind and will be praying for rain. With 98 overs to be bowled in the day,
their very slow rate of scoring means that they may not even be safe even if
they bat to Tea. The Shire have an excellent chance to make it 2 wins from 3
although, with Somerset on the point of victory themselves, they may have to
win their last two games to have a chance of topping the Group and, given
Somerset’s form, that would be a huge task. However, given the degree of
doom-saying after the heavy pre-season defeat to Somerset and the loss to
Worcestershire, even to contemplate the possibility of fighting to top the
Group seems like a miracle.
However, there is a lot of hard
work to do in the morning to set up a chase. And then, the target has to be
hunted-down before we can think of the Somerset game.
Day 4
Your mission, Chris, should you
decide to accept it, is to take ten Glamorgan wickets in no more than about 60
overs, with a tiring attack and then chase down what could be a tricky target
in the evening.
Could Ryan Higgins make that tiny
adjustment to his line and length that would change edges passed into edges
taken? Could a tired David Payne rouse himself for one more effort? Would Mark
Taylor and Josh Shaw give the required support, nipping-in with vital wickets?
For most of the day things looked good, although you always felt that the Shire
were one wicket behind their needs.
In the end, it was not to be, as
tiring bowlers were unable to find the magic ball to breakthrough a stubborn
ninth wicket partnership. Two tough chances off van Buuren went down right at
the end, but it was already too late by then, with the asking rate over ten,
even if the scoring through the day was so slow that there was a chance of a
chase still almost up to the last hour.
When Matt Taylor took two early
wickets to convert the overnight 23-0 into 23-2, the Shire looked on their way,
but partnerships kept eating-up overs. At 92-3, it looked as if Glamorgan would
escape, only for Higgins to pin the adhesive Selman. 92-3 rapidly became 121-7,
but the effort proved to be too much for the attack to sustain. Cooke and Bull
hung around together for 13.3 overs and you could see the match was slipping
away. A wicket for van Buuren just before Tea re-kindled hope, but Payne,
Higgins, Taylor and Shaw were too tired to exploit the opening and the injured
van der Gugten batted out of his skin to survive 24 overs until, finally, Chris
Dent accepted the inevitable.
Right now, the bowlers will have
just three days to rest before taking on Somerset. You wonder how much this
match has taken out of them and what the consequences may be if Gloucestershire
are in the field on Saturday.
In an unexpected twist, rain
denied Somerset what had appeared to an inevitable victory but, Worcestershire
pulled-off a surprise victory over Northants. As a result, Worcestershire go
top by a single point from Somerset. The two face each other in the final round
of games, setting-up what could be a grandstand finish in the Central Group. In
contrast, Gloucestershire are 23 points back and now, really, need a
mathematical miracle to top the Group, starting with winning their last two
games.
Aftermath:
Here I am, in deep, verdant valley
in Northern Spain, with a very slow internet connection, but stunning views
through the window.
What to make of the Glamorgan
game? Well, to put it bluntly, it seems manifestly unfair that, having made the
running all game, Gloucestershire took home exactly the same number of points
(11) as Glamorgan, but those are the rules. The Shire sacrificed at least one
and possibly two batting points chasing quick runs, in the hope of forcing a result.
The upshot is that they are still a lot closer to the bottom of the Central
Group (17 points ahead of the hapless Northamptonshire) than they are to the
top (23 points shy of surprise leaders, Worcestershire). Of course, with the
benefit of 20-20 hindsight, it might have been better to bat an extra hour,
give the bowlers a little more rest between innings and have a short, sharp
session with the ball before the Close on Day 3: of course, no one could know
at the time that the Glamorgan tail would give tired bowlers far more problems
than their top order. Or that Chris Cook would prove so adapt at marshalling
resistance from a seemingly hopeless position.
The good news for the Shire is
that their last game is against Northants and it should present a good
opportunity for a win. The bad news is that Somerset desperately need the win
points against the Shire to keep their chances of reaching the Final alive and
will go hell-for-leather for them. However, Gloucestershire are playing far
better now than the side that was rolled-over so easily by Somerset in the
pre-season game and seem to be finding their feet at this level.
One would assume that, Taunton being
Taunton, Gloucestershire would play normally the contrasting styles of both Tom
Smith and Graeme van Buuren. On the final afternoon at Sophia Gardens, van
Buuren bowled one extraordinary delivery that turned so violently that it
missed absolutely everything, running away for four byes and he also bowled
several balls that evaded the edge, quite apart from the two, difficult chances
that went down (a low catch at Short Forward Square Leg and a caught &
bowled). If he can be as threatening against Somerset, he may yet give the
Cidermen, missing both Bess and Leach, some surprises. However, Somerset have based
their success this season on an extremely effective seam attack, to which the
counterpoint is likely to be the higher pace of Matt Taylor and Josh Shaw more
than the guile of Ryan Higgins, although David Payne’s height should pose some interesting
questions for the batsmen.
Effectively, the Somerset game now
becomes an elimination contest. Gloucestershire must win or their interest in
the competition is over mathematically. Somerset will want to take two points
more than Worcestershire to leave their fate as much as possible in their own
hands in the last round when they play their rivals to top the Group at New Road. If they were to get those extra two points,
they would just need a draw with the same points for each side to top the Group. A draw or
defeat for Somerset would all but end their interest in the tournament, so they
will want the 16 points for the win and the three bowling points: anything else
would be a bonus to them, although they will trust their deep batting line-up
to scratch out at least a couple of batting points. However, one suspects that
both the Taunton and New Road pitches will be “sporty” and that batting points
will be in short supply.
Knowing that Somerset will aim a
fearsome pace barrage at them, Gloucestershire would be well advised to bat
deep. Depending on the pitch, the last place in the XI may be between Tom Smith
and Josh Shaw: Shaw if it is greenish, Tom Smith if it is the normal Taunton
beach. Either way, the match will be a test of how far Gloucestershire have
progressed over the last month.
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