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| Craig's Column |
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20/20
It's been a disappointing few games for us lately. Naturally our quarter final against Yorkshire was our biggest game of the season, but we couldn't recover from a poor start and it was extremely disappointing to bow out at the quarter final stage after topping our group, getting a home quarter final and fancing our chances of getting to Lords again.
20/20 has started for another year again, and all the dressing room talk has been of the massive boost to domestic prizemoney with the advent of the newly formed Champions League at the end of our domestic season. With 2 teams from England going to India is only natural to think back to last year and think were we a year too early? Can we do it again? And what would it be like playing for the thick end of $2.5M...... Any way thats a long long way away. 2 games into this years competition and we have had a win and amazingly a tie. We played poorly away at Worcester, which unfortunately has been a trend in recent times, so we had to turn things around quickly. Our first home game against Warwickshire ended in a tie. Games ending in ties produce such strange feelings, not the joy of a win or the despair of a loss. most tied games leave one side thinking they should have won and the other thinking they were lucky to get the one point. I guess in reality it was us who should have won and Warwickshire who were happy to take away a point. I admit i thought we had it with 1 ball left. 4 runs for a tie and 6 for a loss....Lewy bowled a slower ball and somehow Westwood got it down to third man for a boundary. Never mind, at least we are on the board points wise, but we need a win and tomorrow against Northants would be the best time for it. with more games this year (10) there is a little more time to get up into a qualifying position, but we dont want to leave ourselfs needing 3 wins on the trot at the backend to get through. 20/20 certainly is exciting and its here to stay!!
14/06/2008
Qualification
Todays rained off match against Somerset at Bath has not only guaranteed only place in the last 8 of the Friends Provident 50 over competition but guaranteed ourselves a home quarter final on Wednesday week.
So it was a pleasent site seeing all the water on the drive over to Bath and the cancellation wasnt too long coming after we arrived. To be honest i didnt think we would get a match the previous day as we hosted Hampshire in Bristol. The rain eased just in time for a 20 over match. And again a tense finish showed just why 20 over cricket has become so popular. Again we chased and again i thought we had blown our chances, but once again our never say die attitude together with some sensible boundary options enabled us to win in the tense finish. I was dismissed first ball of the 5th to last over with 50 runs required, but then Mark Hardinges took over and hitting with the breeze hit the biggest 6 i have seen at the County Ground when he hit Dimi Mascheranas onto the roof of the Pavillion above the Grace Room.
On a personal note i was delighted to have performed well with the bat again. This time opening the batting after the match was reduced to 20 overs. However more importantly to me was getting through the match with little or no discomfort after my 7 seperate injections into 7 seperate facet joints on Tuesday afternoon. It was certainly the most comfortable i have been on a cricket field for over 2 years and has given me alot of confidence looking forward to the future.
Wednesdays match up at New Road now has no real signifiicance, though personally i would like to keep the winning run going. In reality we are only 2 wins away from another trip back to Lords in August, and wouldnt that be nice again. I wonder who we will draw in the quarter final?
26/05/2008
The ups and downs of cricket
Last Sunday proved a fabulous day for myself and Gloucestershire as we managed to get the better of our closest rivals Somerset at Bristol. Chasing down 290, i managed to score 140 not out which i have described as my second best innings for Gloucestershire. Steffan Jones with 2 wickets in consecutive deliveries put Somerset well on top and us needing 135 runs with 17 overs left and only 4 wickets in hand. However Steve Adshead (40 not out) and myself put together a most satisfying partnership to deny Somerset and get the points in what may well turn out to be a crucial match in the chase for a home quarter final in this competition. Every risk or boundary option that i took came off in that partnership and in the end it may have looked easy but i can assure you that was far from the case. It's always great to see the pressure swing onto the fielding side when they start to feel the game slipping away from them. It was a very happy dressing room afterwards and gave everybody the belief that we can go a long way down the road towards the Lords final.
Monday and Tuesday saw 2 benefit events. I thank all those that attended the Blandford Club in london and Merchants Hall in Bristol on respective days. Nick Knight gave an informative view of his thoughts on English cricket at present and Steve Green presented an insight into New Zealands wine industry. Good food, wine and company is always a nice way to spend your time.
Unfortunately the week turned for the worse up in Worcester during our championship match when i managed to have my lower back lock up. Going back to Bristol early and 48 hours on, only my painkillers are preventing the agony at the moment. I'm glad we have a week off from competitive matches this week as there would be no chance of me playing. I'm hoping things will clear up naturally in the next day or two, but certainly its more work for Steve Griffen and the physio bench.
18/05/2008
Friends Provident
Hello everybody. Well we are a good couple of weeks into the season now and the hard work that is county cricket is now upon us. After a good couple of wins to start the season we have had a slight check with a couple of losses.
Sunday was disappointing down at the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately the rain during the break between innings reduced the Hampshire chase to 30 overs. This shorter chase helped them and i'm confident that had it been over the whole 50 overs we would have prevailed. While one boundary on one side was short there was still some fantastic batting during this match. And it was another example of how one day batting just seems to keep on improving and no total seems to be out of relms of chasing down theses days. Our 350 (the highest ever total at the Rose Bowl) was built around Alex Gidmans maiden one day century for Gloucestershire, and i congratulate him on that. In fact it was a lovely batting innings to watch with the top 6 showing how to build and control the tempo of one day batting. Chris Taylor rapid fire 50 at the back end of the innings was breathtaking, along with Marcus Norths' 80 odd.
After a few games in our division on the Friends Provident Trophy it has become apparent that it will be a very tight group. 2 go through to the quarter finals and i'm pretty sure it's going to go down to the last game already. Our next 2 games are in fact in the Friends Provident and i'm looking forward to heading to Cardiff for the day nighter on friday as it will be the first game at the newly refurbished Sophia Gardens.
Next week is a busy week in the benefit calendar with a lunch at the London Cricketers Club on Monday and a dinner at Merchants Hall in Clifton. All support is greatly appreciated and both events promise to be very entertaining. Nick Knight was at the Rose Bowl on Sunday commentating for Sky Sports and he's looking forward to Mondays lunch.
See you all at a game soon
06/05/2008
The season has started
Firstly an apology for no recent editions to the blog. We have had a recent setback with the website but all is back up and running.
No doubt its time to start talking cricket. 1 week and 2 games into the season and all our hard work over winter has become evident. But for rain on Saturday we would have knocked off a further 140 runs to post an opening win in the County Championship, and then the next day we produced a fine performance to defeat Worcester i the opening Friends Provident match.
Theres nothing worse than being in a winning position in a 4 day game only to be held up by rain on the final day and seeing the opposition get let off the hook. The conditions were quite frankly aweful on Thursday and Friday. Easily the worst i've played a Championship match in. In fact the umpires took pity on us and granted us permission to wear beenies in the field. Even the hand warmers only lasted an hour. I have to give a massive congrats to our bowlers for their discipline during the match, battling the elements and mostly for bowling not one no ball during the match. This has been a point our bowlers have been working very hard on pre season after it was a weakness for us last year. This helped our over rate and thats important this year with over rate penalties doubling.
It was great to register our first win of the season yesterday. Admittedly it was nice to win both tosses this week, but the whole performance was that of a team full of confidence and belief. Chasing 222 to win in 50 overs was a chase we knew we should have achieved at the break. The manner of the win has emphatic and shows we should be a real threat in the competition this campaign. Hamish and Kadeer got us of to such a brilliant start that in reality we had the match won when Hamish was caught. And personally it was nice to see the side home with my 64 batting at number 4 which seems to be my spot for the indefinite future in 1 day cricket. It is a role that i'm really enjoying and ios providing me with a new challenge after opening the batting exclusively in 1 day cricket for 12 years.
So the season has started well, but it's only just beginning and all the hard work is still ahead of us. Lets hope one thing....it warms up soon.
21/04/2008
Post surgery
Today marks the start of "the real" pre season work for the squad as a whole. Traditionally the first week of March is the date the whole squad is due to report back to duty. Thus, we train at the ground for full days starting this week. Naturally without a head coach things are a little different. Captain, coaches and senior players are all gearing together and running the show as the build up to the 2008 season starts.
Everybody is back except for the group who went to India for spin batting sessions. This group, lead by, Owen Dawkins, have been away for a week and are due to return on Thursday. Reports from there have been positive and the trip has been fruitful. no doubt it has been good for those being away and practicing on grass outside against quality bowlers.
Only myself and Tom Stayt are on the disabled list. I am pleased to report that my operation on Friday went well. The surgeon afterwards said i had a meniscal tear, a plica and some tissue was shaved away from my fat pad. We didnt know what to expect prior to surgery, so it was good to hear there was an explanation for my discomfit. All reports suggest i need to take it easy for a week, start jogging in a weeks time and i should be as good as gold in 2-3 weeks time.
10/03/2008
Benefit Dinner
Last Thursday week was my opening dinner at the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. I'm glad to say the evening went particularly well and i would like to thank all those who attended and also those who helped to make the night as good as it was. Weeks of diligent planning meant the night ran without a hitch. I thought the food was especially good, and Fosters did a brilliant job with that. My favourite was the two magicians who performed some tricks that i have no idea how they did it. I hadnt even had that much to drink to get confused. On the down side i am off to The Squire for keyhole surgery on Friday on my right knee. This has been playing up since mid December and due to it not improving and the season being only 6 weeks away it has been decided to "go in" and have a look. Hopefully the news next week will be all good.
I have been to the sky studios twice during the one day series down in New Zealand to give "expert" views after the highlights packages. That was a good experience and something i enjoyed doing. Although it did feel like i have a face for radio!! The second time was much easier as i knew what to expect, so felt more at home. The test series starts in a couple of days and i do expect England to win this series, as they are the superior test side with players better suited to test cricket than New Zealand. It would be good to see a fit Stephen Harmison get through the series for England, but with all fast bowlers time will tell on the injury front.
03/03/2008
Weekly news
A beautiful few days has really left the feeling that the season isn't far away. Unfortunately the bruises of a cricket ball on me are another reminder that it's fast approaching!! To make matters worse one of those bruises, on my ribs, has resulted in a broken rib. Just an occupational hazard, but i really should use my bat more. End result looks like i'm out of action for a while, but at least it's this time of the year and not while the season has started. Will Rudge was the culprit! England smashed NZ in the two 20/20 matches before getting thrashed themselves in the 1st ODI. Was it just the English press or did the England team also think this one day series was going to be easy! Certainly Graham Gooch in the Setanta studio gave NZ no chance. Well i must say NZ are still a decent one day team despite some personnal changes. And no one day series is ever completely dominated by one side, England are not that dominant in one day cricket it must be said. I think this series will be 2-2 going into the deciding match. NZ will always prefer to chase so expect them to bowl first if they win the toss. This has been there preference for a long time now in ODI's. I am to make my studio debut on Friday at Sky Sports headquarters.....should be interesting! I'm looking forward to the make up room. I'm on the Friday afternoon highlights package of the 3rd ODI during the evening before. How many bloopers will there be?
11/02/2008
Start of a new era
It has been announced today that Mark Alleyne is leaving the club in his capacity as head coach. Mark has served Gloucestershire County Cricket Club for 22 years as both a player and coach. Everybody can remember the images of Mark holding aloft trophys year after year after another Lords success. I would like to pass on my thanks for what Mark has done for me here over the 7 years that i have been at the club. It was John Bracewell and Mark that offered me the chance to play here in the first place. Whether Mark stays in cricket or not i'm not sure but i wish him all the best. This no doubt means the start of a new era here at the club. I'm sure we as players can still reach the high standards that we set ourselves this coming season. This change of direction wont effect our preperation for the 2008 season and all the players are looking forward to the first game on April 16th.
I wonder if many of you heard my stint on bbc radio with Geoff Twentyman on Saturday. I must say it was good fun, although i did feel like i was on the set of "Frasier" a little. Geoff was kind enough to invite me in for 20mins talking about cricket matters and also giving me the chance to plug my opening benefit dinner. The dinner is fast approaching actually, only 2 weeks away on Thursday. It would be great if you could attend and support my year. All tickets can be booked from my website flyer, or by calling 07789324317. It's going to be a very entertaining evening with Mike Gatting speaking. The club AGM is Wednesday this week and i will also be there with some flyers for the dinner. See you soon
04/02/2008
Gilchrist to retire
The reaction of Paul Collingwood when he heard the news Adam Gilchrist was to retire at the end of the Adelaide test against India was probably pretty common with alot of cricketers around the world. The man who has set the benchmark for wicketkeeper/batters will no longer play for Australia and will go down as one of the greatest of all time without doubt. Without sounding out statistics we clearly knew of his ability to change a game in either format. The Austarlian selectors have been so lucky for so long with him because his batting record is that of a genuine batter, hence his position in the team is one of a dominant allrounder. With this luxury, selectors have almost been able to select the team around him. By this i mean, they had the choice of playing one less batter and relying on this batting talent so an extra bowler, maybe a second spinner, could be palyed. Or on the flip side, going back to the more traditional set up of 6 batters, himself, a spinner and 3 seamers. This balance gave the Australians so much depth to their batting line up that all batters could almost play with complete feedom, knowing that one or two of them would "come off" on any given day and put their side in a dominant position in any match. Another great attribute Gilchrist had was batting with the tailenders. Because he was a power player, he could score the boundaries and still keep the strike when the bowlers were at the other end. I think the Australian test side in the next couple of years will take a slide compared to their recent amazing standards and match winning streaks. I'm not saying they will lose their world number one position dont get me wrong. But without doubt they are now going to be involved in much closer matches, and pressure can do funny things to players. Also opposing sides must now go into series against Australia with more confidence, so it promises to be interesting times ahead. I remember plying in Kuala Lumper in an almost 20/20 style cricket competition about 13 years ago. Having made the final against Australia we bowled first and managed to restrict the Australians to a very low score. All we had to do was go out there, bat normally, take few risks and knock off the runs to win the tournament. It was apparant after only a couple of overs we weren't up for taking too many risks and wanted to take our time to score the runs and hence win. One, Adam Gilchrist seeing Australias best way to win was to start "talking" away at us from behind the stumps. I remember him saying we were treating it like a World Cup final when it was only a minor fun event in Asia, and how pathetic we were (well words that meant all that). We ended up batting normally and winning, but his desire to win, never give up and fight til the end was evident way back then.
CS
28/01/2008
Ashley Giles
I'm going to have a whinge i'm sorry. During the week David Graveney was replaced as head of selectors of the England Cricket Team, and replaced with Geoff Miller. Now i have no problem with that. Grav did a tremendous job over 11 years and will always be remembered for winning the Ashes in 2005. I think it is a good time for a change with Peter Moores trying to establish himself. My concern however surronds the appointment of Ashley Giles as one of two assistant selectors. As far as i'm concerned his appointment is a conflict of interest. I don't see how a county coach can also be a national selector. If i was a fringe national player playing for any other county i would be concerned with the objectivity that Giles will or won't bring to the job. He has been quoted as saying that he will travel around seeing county cricketers in his Warwickshire capacity. This may be true, however he will only see players in Warwickshires division and is it fair to judge these players on one performance on the day they play Warwickshire... i think not. So if his position is simply to give advice to the head of selectors why have it at all. Why not treat all county coaches equally and go to them all for advice on players that all coaches see throughout the season. Also, i have a problem with Ashley being very close friends with most of the current team because of his days playing alongside them. He will need to become detached from this type of dressing room friendship to be balanced on his opinions involving other players. I've have seen this first hand before and in my opinion the ECB have made a wrong appointment. I may prove to be incorrect in time, but i think Ashley who has no first team county coaching experience should stick to ensuring Warwickshire have a successful year.
21/01/2008
The week that was
All in all it has been a rather quiet week. The squad has started hitting and bowling balls now, so the long pre season road to April 16th has begun. It's always a strange feeling picking up a bat again for the first time in months. Almost like greeting an old friend again and starting to get reaquainted. Batting for myself is alot to do with feel and getting my timing right with my feet and arm movements. And its this process that seems the hardest to get right initially. I'm glad to report the eyes seemed to be ok as i can still see the ball!! And that was actually confirmed by a professional as well. Amar Shah performed his eye test on me in his studio during the week. It was nice to hear there are no deficiencies in either eye. On the flip side.... wont be able to use that as an excuse this coming season. I've always found it strange that my entire family require glasses but i dont. Speaking of family it was good to see Wales get another Worls Champion last night. Darts at the Lakeside may not be the most high profile sport, but a World Champ is a World Champ. On the local side of things wasnt it great to see Bristol City go top championship on Saturday, albeit for only a couple of hours. I think i'm right in saying they have 19 matches left now. Sooner or later they are openly going to have to admit they are serious contenders for promotion. It will be interesting to see how they perform then instead of playing the underdog tag and saying there is a long way to go in the season. Alex Gidman scored 54 overnight in the New Zealand one day competition for Otago. That was against Andrew Staruss' Northern Districts. Nice to see Alex outperform his fellow Englishman in that match. Probably more surprising was to see Alex bowl 10 overs for 33!!! I'll sign off with the weather, see i'm a converted Englishman. The snow last week was lovely to see. Theres something about it that makes you stop what your doing and just watch. Bristol doesnt get that much snow as everybody knows so i was happy to be hindered by it on the roads for a few hours. As for the rain that turned the county ground into a lake, well we could all do without that. Take care.
14/01/2008
Happy New Year
Hello everybody, Happy New Year to you all!! I hope the festive period treated you well and recharged the batteries for another year. It was a quite time for me over Christmas. This was only my second Christmas in England and it reminded me a great deal of playing in a couple of Boxing Day tests for New Zealand. They were quiet days spent in a hotel in Wellington, usually a hotel lunch and an afternoon spent watching movies in my room or reading magazines in the bath.
Australia keep marching on with now 16 test victories in a row. Really a brilliant effort when you think about it. It seems only India boycotting the final test can stop them!
The Gloucester players Christmas lunch at Racks was a hoot. Christmas party goers at various tables around us seemed stunned as we walked into the restaurant area in various types of sporting fancy dress. I'm sure never before has Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, Frankie Dettorri, Zara Phillips, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ian Thorpe and Tiger Woods, to name a few, sat down together over a meal.
Training has now recommennced for us, and for me the turn of the year is always the countdown towards a new season. We are not travelling overseas to South Africa on a pre season tour this year so the coaches are planning pre season matches as early as the first week in April. Our next phase of training also begins this week as we incorporate cricket nets and skill work into our weeks along with the fitness work.
I am now starting my push towards selling my opening dinner of my benefit year which is to take place at the British and Empire Commonwealth Museum at Temple Meads. Mike Gatting has been secured as after dinner speaker, so it will be a great night in a lovely setting. For further details look at the home page and events section of this website.
Craig
07/01/2008
England v Sri Lanka
In the early hours of tomorrow morning the 3rd test between England and Sri Lanka commences at Galle. England need to win the test to level the series and i really hope they play 2 spinners in this match, Graeme Swann alongside Monty Panesar. From what i've seen of the first 2 test matches the seam bowlers haven't been overly threatening and i think Englands best chance of obtaining the 20 wickets is by playing 2 spinners. In fact i wouldn't be surprised to see Swann outbowl Panesar in this test due to the fact that there will be at least 2 left arm seamers playing and they will be running on the wicket just down the line the off spinner will want to bowl. For me Chris Broad would miss out. Sidebottom is proving effective and is swinging the ball while i would use Harmison in short aggressive spells. England need to win the toss, bat positively, get a score and then put the pressure back on Sri Lanka. Simply formula and easier said than done i realise. But will Swann play??????
Many will not know but this test is being played at Galle, and will be the first test there since the tsunami of 2004 destroyed the ground. There has been some publicity during the week that the ground may not be 100% ready. Kevin Peiterson, often such an outspoken person, has come out in support of the ground, by saying the match should definitely go ahead at Galle because of the bigger picture, and for the good of the game. In this instance i completely agree with KP. I was fortunate enough to tour Sri Lanka with New Zealand and we palyed a test at Galle. The ground itself has to be one of the most beautiful test venues in the world. Set against a backdrop of sparkling blue sea, with only the sea wall seperating the ground from the beach. I remember these images from my time there, and then saw the dreadful pictures after the tsunami struck. Now i'm looking forward to seeing how the ground has been redeveloped in readyness for this test. Shane Warne has raised large amounts of money through his cricket charity for Galle and he has been to Sri Lanka many times to work with Murali with the sole objective of getting this ground back ready for test cricket.
Here at Gloucester we are embarking on our last week before our Christmas break. With the first real hard frosts arriving it's perfect timing for a break if you ask me. The little pond up at the Filton running track has frozen over and it's taking several laps now to warm up before any layer comes off.
Jon Lewis had his closing dinner last Thursday night. All those that attended at Holland House had a fun night and Jon can now pass on the benefit mantle to me, along with all the hard work!
Steven Snell has been given the responsibility of organising our players Christmas party. It is taking place on Friday after training has finished and Snelly has come up with the idea of a fancy dress theme. The story is we need to turn up in an outfit representing the sporting icon of our choice. Watch this space for who turns up in what. In the meantime, wrap up warm.
Craig
17/12/2007
Welcome to the new website.
Hello everybody, and welcome to my new website. I have been fortunate enough to be granted a benefit season by Gloucestershire for the 2008 calendar year and my website is now ready to be launched. Firstly, i need to thank the fabulous folk at Publicity Matters for helping to make this site possible.
My aim in this column is to provide an insight into the Gloucester Gladiators camp on a weekly basis. Each Monday "Craigs Column" will provide a roundup on the previous weeks results, gossip and my own personal thoughts on the seasons at hand. Be sure to catch up on all the latest news right here, first hand. So watch out for the first report on Monday December 10th.
Craig
07/12/2007
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