tin

Agreed, although I doubt he’s come up against the likes of Odoi, who I’ve always rated at this level, and Wilson before. Steep learning curve for the lad.

Agreed. Add Pring on the left, and get a quality right-winger/forward in and I think that’s a very decent starting XI for this level. 4-3-3/4-5-1

We’re a good four-day side, albeit we loved to chase. We were built around good seam in the first half of the summer, and spin in the second. An enjoyable campaign and I hope Harvey and Alleyne are allowed to continue in their roles beyond this year.

10-wicket haul for Gohar now. County Championship win number EIGHT to be wrapped up inside two days.

Nine wickets have fallen to left-arm spin in the first two sessions so far today. Looks like a Bunsen burner. On another note, I hope we snap up Gohar for next year. He's exactly the type of spinner we've been crying out for.

Missed the game today, was on godfather duty. What a finish that is from Nahki. I’m not at all surprised to see us win today. It’s a happy hunting ground, we knew QPR would take the game to us (and that brings the best out in us), and the togetherness of this squad is a pleasure to see. We know our limitations and there’s plenty of room for improvement, but this is game eight into a three-year project. Gutted I wasn’t there to enjoy it.

That Dave is a mate of mine, lives in Keynsham and is a top fella. He jacked it in around 2018/19, I think. Still goes to the games, just not dressed as a Robin!

Apparently, the counties are going to vote in the coming weeks on a) whether to go back to two divisions, and b) whether county cricket should be played in July and August. A minimum of 12 votes required to carry a motion. Interestingly, the two divisions would consist of 10 teams in Division One and 8 in Division Two. Crucially for Glos, it’ll be based on 2019 standings meaning us, Northants and Lancs will all go up at the expense of Notts (who by a bizarre twist of fate could yet win this year’s title and end up in Division Two next summer!) Decisions due soon.

Is it, though? You know as well as I do the old cliche about anyone can beat anyone in this league and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we got this monkey off our backs against Fulham or Bournemouth in the coming weeks. We seem to perform better when teams come on to us, because we don't have the players to break teams down at home. That's where we are right now and we all know the reasons why. After 7 games, we're in 12th place. That's above my expectation for this season. Two individual mistakes in stoppage time this season have prevented us from having 5 more points on the board. But then again, I firmly think we're in a mini league to survive and it'll be the games against Posh, Forest and Barnsley in the next month or so that will go a long way to determining where where we end up. Last night was the worst performance under NP so far this season, but we still ended up with a point which is more than the performance deserved. At least we're not being dicked week in, week out like we were under Holden. That's the low point we're slowly emerging out of, IMO.

Excellent post. Yes, that was probably the worst performance so far this season. But the sad fact is we are 18 months or so behind being a settled outfit like Luton, so why people think we have a divine right to win these games - especially in a transitional season - I don’t know. As galling as Bentley’s clanger was, that was a good point tonight.

I’ve been saying it for too long now, but Vyner just doesn’t have it at this level. Not at CB, not at RB, not at DM.

**** sake, Bentley

We started well. The first 15 was good, the highlight being Pring swinging a pearler of a deep cross from the left and someone (Martin?) fluffing their lines at the back post. The middle 15 was even. Luton bossed the last 15 and should be 2-0 up. We’re still in it, crucially, but need to play much better. If I was Nige, it’d be Wells on for Martin, Semenyo for Scott, and Dasilva for Baker at HT.

It's about time we had a decent spinner. We've only needed one for about 20 years! Today's win at Glamorgan makes it seven County Championship wins for Glos this year from a possible 13. No other county has won more Championship games than we have so far in 2021 with one game left to play. It's not every summer we can say that.

While the Test being postponed is a scandal, we’ve had a belting day at Sale CC with boat loads of Bristolians. Great day today, we are ****** and off to Salford v Bradford tomorrow. Let’s up we deliver

Thanks but no need, @Northern Red. We always come up to OT for the Test and stay with a good mate up here, so we’ll be fine. A pub crawl awaits! Others won’t be so fortunate. It’s a complete joke to call it off this morning, mind, especially with many of these players due to play in the IPL in 10 days or so.

The ECB needs to prioritise Test match and county cricket, so that the county structure supports the Test structure. Play the Tests and County Championship in June, July and August. This would give players a change to hone their games at a time when Tests are being played, ensuring they're ready to come into the Test XI if called upon. I would personally have the 50-over competition from April to late May. Once that's out of the way, have something like 10 Championship games across three divisions played on Saturdays to Tuesdays each week with T20s on Thursday and Friday nights, taking us up to third week in July. Then have the final six teams contesting the Championship in the remaining weeks (I like the current conference format where points rollover if you've already beaten another team, but think these dead-rubbers for the 12 counties who didn't make the cut should be binned). You could then shoehorn this 100-ball shite into September if the ECB insisted on it (I'd get rid of the circus, personally). Agree the cupboard is bare, because the times at which we play County Cricket enable trundlers like Darren Stevens to continue to be a key player. As long as this continues, the Test team will struggle to produce players who are up to scratch. I'm off to Old Trafford in a minute. I'd personally go with Burns, Hameed, Malan, Root, Pope, Bairstow, Buttler, Woakes, Wood, Leach, Anderson/Robinson. I don't think Root will go with that, but yet again I'm not impressed with his captaincy and how he's bowled Anderson and Robinson into the ground in the previous two Tests.

We certainly are and that’s why we prefer to bowl first. It’s a travesty we didn’t get into Division One after five early-season wins, and I really don’t understand the point for the other two divisions when the title is the only thing to play for.

Get in, my babbers. Love the way we saw that out, especially after shipping late goals v Blackpool and FGR recently. No shithousery like last year’s win in Cardiff, either.

What a finish, Weimann! Get in

Yeah. James and HNM as the two, Weimann as the 10, Semenyo right, Pring left.

10 league games without a clean sheet now. The sooner we stop shipping goals, the sooner we’ll be at the right end of the league. The levels we’ve been at for an hour have been excellent and I still think we’ve got another goal in us. I’m not at confident we stop them scoring again, mind.

Was just going to say the very same. Such a good outlet on the left so far.

Luke Ayling

New lows for Gregor. Trying to make a name for himself. Absolute prat, and just when I thought he’d turned the corner with his questions to NP yesterday.