County Championship Round 12 Essex v Gloucestershire

 

 

County Championship Round 12

Essex v Gloucestershire

 

Preview:

Against Northamptonshire, once again, Gloucestershire took a beating for seven sessions before starting a fightback in the eighth and surging to victory in the last. It was the “Gloucestershire Edge of the Seat Brigade”, as Brian Brain called them back in the early ‘80s.

Of the squad picked for the Northamptonshire game, Jack Taylor, Ian Cockbain and Matt Taylor drop out and David Payne and Ollie Price return. Thus the final XI is likely to be the same save for the Taylor/Payne swap, although the option is there to pick three spinners (Zafar, van Buuren and Ollie Price) if the pitch is tailored to the needs of Simon Harmer, in which case presumably it would be Jared Warner who would make way for Ollie Price.

This is the top of the table clash between the two sides that won in the first round. A win for either team would put it in prime position to win Division 2 and some significant prizemoney with just two games left to play.

Day 1:

There was an experiment with 2-day Championship matches after the First World War: this game bears all the marks of a modern attempt to bring 2-day cricket back.

Essex won the Toss in a match-up that has produced a result in the last five meetings, with each side winning one of the two games in 2015 and in 2016, the last time that the sides met. And, surprise, although Gloucestershire elected to play three spinners, with Jared Warner dropping out, Essex inserted on winning the Toss. With bright sun, but also a pitch that looked pretty green, the chances were that the first hour would be interesting until the sun burnt off some of the moisture.

With a 1030 start, losing an early wicket or two is always a risk and Porter took one in the fifth over, pinning Miles Hammond LBW for 5: 13-1. Worse was to follow in Porter’s next over as Ben Charlesworth fell in identical fashion: 20-2 and the Shire in trouble. In came Chris Dent and counter-attacked with fours from his first two balls. Next over, Sam Cook got into the act and first had James Bracey caught behind for 3, then he bowled Tom Lace first ball. Three wickets had fallen in just 7 balls. Graeme van Buuren kept out the hat-trick ball, but this was a nightmare start. When Chris Dent edged Porter to 2^nd Slip, 20-1 had become 28-5. Graeme van Buuren then left a ball on 5^th or 6^th stump line from Cook, expansively, only to see it jag back in a long way and bowl him neck and crop middle and off: 32-6. Welcome to a 1030 September start against an excellent seam bowling unit!!

28 of the first 40 runs had come in boundaries as Ryan Higgins opened his account with a straight drive past the bowler and then ran out to pull the next ball through Mid-Wicket for another. As counterattacks went, it was as brief as they come as Ollie Price then edged Porter to 3^rd Slip for 3 to make the score 47-7 and signal that the end was nigh. However, the ball did start to soften and, as the sun did its work, conditions started to ease slightly. Once again, though, Zafar was batting in a massive crisis, but gave sensible support to Ryan Higgins for a time. Essex obviously expected the pitch to turn because Harmer was on as early as the 25^th over, bowling with a Slip, a Short Leg and a Short Forward Square Leg and it was he who ended the growing partnership as Zafar offered a huge slog-sweep that was top-edged to Square Leg. 74-8. It was not a great way to get out on the first morning of a game. Then Ryan Higgins turned one from outside off to Short Forward Square leg, where Pepper made a brilliant, flying, reaction catch: that was 76-9 and the batsmen were reading Harmer no better than they could read Linear B. In came last man, David Payne, who somehow survived four balls before being bowled by his fifth. 76ao. Carnage. Harmer finished with the remarkable figures of 3-1-2-3 and was already turning the ball.

And so to an only slightly delayed (by 10 minutes) Lunch. It might be slim consolation, but Somerset, Glamorgan and, to a lesser extent, Hampshire, we also in pretty dire straits at Lunch of Day 1.

Essex came out to bat and it took just seventeen balls for David Payne to remove Browne with an edge to James Bracey: 10-1. Batting was turning into a short term occupation. Even a knighthood did not make it a more long-term proposition: Ryan Higgins pinned Sir Alastair Cook and it was 22-2. With scoring at a crawl, Essex were barely making inroads into the Gloucestershire total. When Tom Price had Westley LBW the score had inched to 28-3 after 17 overs and the match, remarkably, was evening-up. Back came David Payne for a second spell and induced an edge from Pepper to the ‘keeper: 32-4 and Gloucestershire getting back into the game. On came Zafar for the 25^th over with two slips and a Short Forward Square Leg and one wondered if he would get the sharp turn that Harmer had managed. While he was imposing respect and went for just three runs from his first five overs, Walter took three fours off a Ryan Higgins over as the deficit narrowed. With runs flowing from Ryan Higgins, on came Ollie Price.

71-4 at Tea. The partnership 39. And it needed to be broken quickly if Gloucestershire were not to be batted out of the match. Zafar and Ollie Price had conceded just 6 runs between them in eight overs so far.

However, Zafar’s first ball after Tea was cut hard to the boundary and Essex were just one run behind. Rymell’s satisfaction with the stroke did not last long: two balls later Zafar gave one some air on Leg Stump and Miles Hammond took the edge at First Slip… it was that sort of pitch – 75-5. Wheater came in and his response was to paddle-sweep for four to take Essex into the lead. Tom Price came back at the other end and was gloriously Cover Driven for another four: three boundaries and a wicket in seven deliveries. The batsmen were clearly going to take any runs on offer. Zafar was causing problems and Walter turned him of the full face of the bat to Tom Lace at Short Forward Square could not quite scoop up a very low chance. Then Zafar had a very loud shout for LBW that was turned down. It was to prove a very expensive miss. The partnership grew and started to prosper and, for the first time in the day, bat was dominating ball.

By the Close the partnership had reached 75, with Walter 71* and Wheater 30* and the lead 74. It was not evident where another wicket might come from. Gloucestershire are facing a big deficit in a low-scoring match.

Day 2:

Gloucestershire needed a fast start and got one. After an initial Zafar maiden, it took Tom Price just 3 balls to make the breakthrough as Wheater edged and gave a catch to brother Ollie, departing for 34 and leaving the hope that the lead might yet be contained. Such hopes vanished though in a hail of boundaries, mostly by Harmer, who hit three from a single Zafar over. The hundred lead came up in the 74^th over as Harmer scored at better than a run-a-ball. Walter, who had been grinding along through most of the Essex innings accelerated through the 70s and 80s as the score rattled along before the New Ball. Up came the 200 in the 78^th over with yet another boundary from Harmer. Ryan Higgins took the New Ball along with David Payne and, finally, with the partnership between Walter and Harmer at 71, Walter edged to Tom Lace at 3^rd Slip, who juggled and caught it at the second attempt. Walter had fallen for 96, an innings that had turned the knife in the Gloucestershire jugular and had deserved to get a century. One wicket quickly became two as Ryan Higgins induced an edge from Harmer and Tom Lace took another catch at 3^rd Slip, this time a very low one that Lace held very well. The batsman asked if it was clean, Tom Lace said that he thought that it was and, showing good sportsmanship, Harmer walked. Still the Essex score mounted. Snater laced into Payne and lofted him way back over Long On for six, which brought back Zafar into the attack after an animated discussion with Chris Dent. It took him just two balls to remove Snater, who took a wild slash and almost cleared Miles Hammond at 1^st Slip, but Hammond took a really reaction good catch, high over his head.

At that point the score was 244-9 and the lead 168. If Gloucestershire thought that their travails were over, they were wrong. Sam Cook and Porter produced a merry partnership of 32 for the last wicket. Up came the 250 and the second batting point in the 99^th over as the last pair took the attack to the bowlers. The final indignity was when Porter launched Zafar into the crowd over wide Long On to cheers from the public who, like all crowds, love to see the last pair swinging away successfully. Next ball he tried again and launched the ball high towards Cover where David Payne took the catch. 276ao.

The net result was a 200 run lead for Essex. With eight sessions to go, Gloucestershire faced batting for two days to save the match.

The innings started with mercifully few alarms and very few false shots. Such was the lack of excitement that the commentators were able to pay tribute to Sir Robert and how he would have livened-up the commentary. On came Harmer and immediately got big turn while, at the same time, the ball sometimes kept low. Still, it was not until the last ball of the thirteenth over that Snater got the breakthrough, with a straight ball that Miles Hammond just seem to miss: Hammond LBW 17, 35-1. Up came the 50 in the 19^th over, albeit with an involuntary edge wide of the Slips and, like England at the same stage, Gloucestershire were looking fairly solid. 73-1, from 29 overs at Tea, Charlesworth 36*, Bracey 20*.

A cut past Slip by Charlesworth gave him a boundary off Harmer and took Gloucestershire past their first innings total and Charlesworth onto 40*. The pitch was playing better and better although when Harmer beat the bat it was actually because the ball did too much, although it was noticeable that, as the ball got softer, he became steadily easier to play. As the score closed in on 100, the calls for a change of ball started… as it happened, successfully. By coincidence, or otherwise, a wicket fell straight afterwards as Harmer turned a ball slightly past Charlesworth’s push forward and hit the pad right in front: 93-2, Charlesworth 49.

It is fair to say that before Charlesworth fell the batsmen were in charge and you could see Gloucestershire batting through the third day and setting a target. Once he fell, the rot set in and, sad to say, some of the wounds were self-inflicted.

A run-out from what proved to be the last ball of the day was an unnecessary piece of hari-kiri. As was a double nightwatchman policy. David Gower tried it at Lord’s in 1985, with disastrous results. Chris Dent tried tried it here. Worse still was that both nightwatchmen – the Price brothers – fell (in 1985, John Emburey at least survived overnight). The score was 123-2. James Bracey was batting nicely, while Chris Dent was bedding in. Essex had brought on Westley to bowl in a sign that that that they thought that it would be a long haul. Bracey clipped him to leg to bring up a fine 50 (118 balls, 7x4). It was the 54^th over. Just seven overs remained in the day. From nothing, James Bracey edged Sam Cook and was taken by Harmer at 2^nd Slip without adding to his score. Harmer to Tom Price, with five men round the bat. A loud appeal for a bat-pad catch was turned down. Next ball, almost identical, save that, this time, there was an edge and Browne took it at Leg Slip. 124-4 and the Shire’s good position had melted away. Out came Ollie Price. Oh dear! Last over of the day, Sam Cook bowling. Chris Dent facing. He took a single off the first ball. Ollie Price saw off the next two without problems and took a new guard for the fourth, which he clipped nicely to Deep Square Leg. The captain called for a second and Ollie Price was just short when the bullet throw came in. The Essex delight was unbounded. 123-2 had become 132-5 and the match now looks set to finish possibly as early as tomorrow morning.

Gloucestershire will start the third day 68 behind and now with no other aim than to avoid the innings defeat.

Day 3:

Blue skies, bright sun: perfect for batting. When, six overs before the Close, the opposition bowlers are contemplating a long, hard day on the ‘morrow and the opposition batsmen, a chase of some sort on the last day, you hardly expected the game to end well before Lunch on the 3^rd day and with an innings defeat. Officially, the thinking was that a lead of 130 might be enough even to win the match, with Zafar potentially spinning the Shire to the win.

The double nightwatchman decision did not look any better for a night’s sleep and, the best that can be said for it is that the two nightwatchmen, by scoring a single run each, outdid the two batsmen that they were meant to be protecting. That the match ended with another runout, just as the innings defeat was about to be avoided, also speaks volumes. However, at least Ryan Higgins was trying to protect the #11 by taking a quick second run. And that the action happened in silence because the commentary stream had failed… again… only added to the feeling of a slightly botched job all round.

Really, the match had been decided in a catastrophic few overs the previous night. When three wickets fell in 21 balls at the start of play, it looked as if the game might be over inside half an hour. Sam Cook finished his over and Harmer then bowled a quiet over, even if there was a suspicion that the umpires should have stepped-in to enforce COVID social distancing rules as he placed his field: Chris Dent has rarely been so popular, with Essex fielders crowding around him. Three balls of Sam Cook’s first, full over were enough to remove Tom Lace, who fished and edged to 2^nd Slip for a duck: 134-6 and any illusions of setting any kind of lead were disappearing. In came Graeme van Buuren, one of the batsmen that you could imagine, with Chris Dent, in batting for a full day. Chris Dent played a maiden from Harmer. Next ball was a nip-backer from Sam Cook and Graeme van Buuren also departed for a duck. Chris Dent then left the first ball of Harmer’s next over, the ball turned away slightly and took middle and off: 134-8. Six wickets had fallen for eleven runs.

So far Zafar Gohar has played three innings for Gloucestershire, all in collapses and in crises and has batted well each time, although his highest score so far is only 24. Again, he provided solid support for a while, this time in partnership with Ryan Higgins. The two added 54 in 22 overs, adding some respectability to the scorecard. The first sign of aggression was when Zafar came down the wicket to Harmer and lofted him for four to make the score 154-8. Ryan Higgins took his cue from that and cut Snater powerfully for four. Mostly, though, it was slow accumulation and sensible play, Zafar using his feet well to Harmer to disrupt his rhythm. The New Ball was taken and the two continued there serene way, which made what had preceded this partnership even more unfortunate. Harmer came back quickly and Ryan Higgins hit a Cover Drive for two off a very wide delivery, which brought up the 50 partnership. The deficit was now just 15 and, astonishingly, just six overs into the New Ball, Essex were starting to go on the defensive and removing most of the close fielders. Finally, Harmer bowled one outside off that turned too much for Zafar and he could only edge it to Slip, out for 24: 188-9 and the end of a very fine partnership of 54. With only the last man for company, Ryan Higgins unleashed a massive slog-sweep into the far distance, bringing the arrears down to just 5. Could Gloucestershire avoid the innings defeat? Payne edged the ball just over Leg Slip who dived for it and just failed to bring off a tremendous catch. No matter, next ball, with the change of over, Ryan Higgins turned to Square Leg and set off back for two. Snater was fast running in and throwing and surprised him with a direct hit.

Gloucestershire 197ao. The margin, an innings and three runs. Gloucestershire, thoroughly outplayed in the end, had shown flashes of really fine play, but had never quite sustained them for long enough.