Gloucestershire County Cricket Club

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Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
One-day name: Gloucestershire
Captain: Australia Michael Klinger
Coach: New Zealand John Bracewell
Overseas player(s): Australia Michael Klinger
Founded: 1870
Home ground: Nevil Road
Capacity: 7,500 – 17,500
First-class debut: Surrey
in 1870
at County Cricket Ground
Championship wins: 0
Pro40/ECB 40 wins: 1
FP Trophy/NatWest Trophy wins: 5
Twenty20 Cup/Friends Life t20 wins: 0
Official website: Official website

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators.

The club plays most of its home games at the County Cricket Ground, Bristol. Currently, each season a number of games are played at the Cheltenham cricket festivals held at the College Ground, Cheltenham. In 2013, Friends Life t20 matches will be played in Cheltenham for the first time.[1] This is due, in part, to the ongoing redevelopment of the County Cricket Ground resulting in a temporary reduction of the capacity in Bristol. In recent years, matches were also played at the Gloucester cricket festival at The King's School, Gloucester.

Honours

First XI honours

  • Champion County[2] (3) – 1874, 1876, 1877; shared (1) – 1873
  • County Championship
Runners-Up (6) – 1930, 1931, 1947, 1959, 1969, 1986
2 Divisions since 2000 (2000–2003 D2, 2003–2005 D1, 2006– D2)
Division 2 – 3rd – 2003 – Promoted to Division 1, 2005 – Relegated to Division 2
  • Gillette/NatWest/C&G Trophy (5) – 1973, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004
Semi-Finalists (6) – 1968, 1971, 1975, 1987, 1988, 2009
  • Sunday/National League/Pro40 (1) – 2000
Division Two (2) – 2002, 2006
  • Twenty20 Cup
Finalists (1) – 2007
Semi-Finalists (1) – 2003
  • Benson & Hedges Cup (3) – 1977, 1999, 2000
Finalists (1) – 2001
Semi-Finalists (1) – 1972

Second XI honours

  • Second XI Championship (1) – 1959

Earliest cricket

Cricket probably reached Gloucestershire by the end of the 17th century. It is known that the related sport of "Stow-Ball" aka "Stob-Ball" was played in the county during the 16th century. In this game, the bat was called a "stave". See Alice B Gomme : The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland.

A game in Gloucester on 22 September 1729 is the earliest definite reference to cricket in the county. From then until the founding of the county club, very little has been found outside parish cricket.

Origin of club

In the early 1840s, Dr Henry Grace and his brother-in-law Alfred Pocock founded the Mangotsfield Cricket Club which merged in 1846 with the West Gloucestershire Cricket Club, whose name was adopted until 1867, after which it became the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.[3] Grace hoped that Gloucestershire would join the first-class county clubs but the situation was complicated in 1863 by the formation of a rival club called the Cheltenham and Gloucestershire Cricket Club.[3]

Dr Grace's club played Gloucestershire's initial first-class match versus Surrey at Durdham Down in Bristol on 2, 3 & 4 June 1870.[4] Gloucestershire joined the (unofficial) County Championship at this time but the existence of the Cheltenham club seems to have forestalled the installation of its "constitutional trappings".[3] The Cheltenham club was wound up in March 1871 and its chief officials accepted positions in the hierarchy of Gloucestershire.[3] So, although the exact details and dates of the county club's foundation are uncertain, it has always been assumed that the year was 1870 and the club celebrated its centenary in 1970.[3]

What is certain is that Dr Grace was able to form the county club because of its playing strength, especially his three sons WG, EM and Fred.[3]

Club history

The early history of Gloucestershire is dominated by the Grace family, most notably W G Grace, who was the club's original captain and held that post until his departure for London in 1899. His brother E M Grace, although still an active player, was the original club secretary. With the Grace brothers and Billy Midwinter in their team, Gloucestershire won three Champion County titles in the 1870s.

Since then Gloucestershire's fortunes have been mixed and they have never won the official County Championship. They struggled in the pre-war years of the County Championship because their best batsmen, apart from Gilbert Jessop and briefly Charlie Townsend, were very rarely available. The bowling, except when Townsend did sensational things on sticky wickets in late 1895 and late 1898, was very weak until George Dennett emerged – then it had the fault of depending far too much on him. Wally Hammond, who still holds many of the county's batting records formed part of an occasionally strong inter-war team, although the highest championship finish during this period was second in 1930 and 1931, when Charlie Parker and Tom Goddard formed a devastating spin attack.

Outstanding players since the war include Tom Graveney, "Jack" Russell and overseas players Mike Procter, Zaheer Abbas and Courtney Walsh.

Gloucestershire enjoyed a run of success in one-day cricket in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They won several titles mainly under the captaincy of Mark Alleyne whilst being coached by John Bracewell.

The club's captain for the 2006 season, Jon Lewis, became the first Gloucestershire player for nearly 10 years to play for England at Test Match level, when he was picked to represent his country in the Third Test against Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge in June 2006.[5] His figures in the first innings were 3–68, including a wicket in his very first over in Test cricket, and he was widely praised for his debut performance.

Gloucestershire reached the final of the 2007 Twenty20 Cup, where they narrowly lost to Kent.[6]

Players

For more details on this topic, see List of Gloucestershire CCC players.

Current squad

  • No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt.
  • double-dagger denotes players with international caps.
  •   *  denotes a player who has been awarded a county cap (since 2004, awarded by Gloucestershire on a player's first-class debut).
No. Name Nat Birth date Batting Style Bowling Style Notes
Batsmen
2 Michael Klinger* double-dagger  Australia (1980-07-04) 4 July 1980 Right-handed — Club captain; overseas player
3 Dan Housego*  England (1988-10-12) 12 October 1988 Right-handed Right-arm leg break
9 Hamish Marshall* double-dagger  New Zealand (1979-02-15) 15 February 1979 Right-handed Right-arm medium Vice captain
15 Chris Dent*  England (1991-01-20) 20 January 1991 Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox
16 Benny Howell*  England (1988-10-05) 5 October 1988 Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast
28 Ian Cockbain*  England (1987-02-17) 17 February 1987 Right-handed Right-arm medium
– Michael Beard  England (1992-10-24) 24 October 1992 Left-handed Left-arm medium
– William Tavaré  England (1990-01-01) 1 January 1990 Right-handed Right-arm medium
All-rounders
5 Alex Gidman*  England (1981-06-22) 22 June 1981 Right-handed Right-arm medium
10 Jack Taylor*  England (1991-11-12) 12 November 1991 Right-handed Right-arm off break
23 Will Gidman*  England (1985-02-14) 14 February 1985 Left-handed Right-arm medium
34 Craig Miles*  England (1994-07-20) 20 July 1994 Right-handed Right-arm medium
Wicket-keepers
17 Gareth Roderick*  South Africa (1991-08-28) 28 August 1991 Right-handed Right-arm medium
29 Cameron Herring*  Wales (1994-07-15) 15 July 1994 Right-handed —
Bowlers
6 Tom Smith*  England (1987-08-29) 29 August 1987 Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox
14 David Payne*  England (1991-02-15) 15 February 1991 Left-handed Left-arm fast-medium
21 Ian Saxelby*  England (1989-05-22) 22 May 1989 Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast
24 Liam Norwell*  England (1991-12-27) 27 December 1991 Right-handed Right-arm medium
26 James Fuller*  New Zealand (1990-01-24) 24 January 1990 Right-handed Right-arm fast
33 Graeme McCarter*  Ireland (1992-10-10) 10 October 1992 Right-handed Right-arm medium
36 Matthew Taylor  England (1994-07-08) 8 July 1994 Right-handed Left-arm medium-fast

Source: Cricinfo

International players

Among the international players who have represented Gloucestershire are:

Club captains

WG Grace dominated the club's early history. He made 22808 runs and took 1339 wickets for the county.

Records

Most first-class runs for Gloucestershire
Qualification – 20000 runs

PlayerRuns
Wally Hammond 33664
Arthur Milton 30218
Alfred Dipper 27948
Ron Nicholls 23607
Martin Young 23400
WG Grace 22808
George Emmett 22806
Jack Crapp 22195
Charlie Barnett 21221

Most first-class wickets for Gloucestershire
Qualification – 1000 wickets

PlayerWickets
Charlie Parker 3170
Tom Goddard 2862
George Dennett 2082
Sam Cook 1768
John Mortimore 1696
WG Grace 1339
Tony Brown 1223
Reg Sinfield 1165
David Smith 1159

The County Ground, Ashley Down, Bristol

Team totals

  • Highest Total For – 695–9 declared v Middlesex at Archdeacon Meadow, Gloucester 2004
  • Highest Total Against – 774–7 declared by the Australians at Bristol 1948
  • Lowest Total For – 17 v the Australians at Cheltenham (Spa) 1896
  • Lowest Total Against – 12 by Northamptonshire at Gloucester 1907

Batting

  • Highest Score – 341 Craig Spearman v Middlesex at Gloucester in 2004
  • Most Runs in Season – 2860 WR Hammond in 1933
  • Most Runs in Career – 33664 WR Hammond 1920–1951
  • Most Hundreds in Career – 113 WR Hammond 1920–1951

Best Partnership for each wicket

  • 1st – 395 DM Young & RB Nicholls v Oxford University at Oxford 1962
  • 2nd – 256 CTM Pugh & TW Graveney v Derbyshire at Chesterfield 1960
  • 3rd – 336 WR Hammond & BH Lyon v Leicestershire at Leicester (Aylestone Road) 1933
  • 4th – 321 WR Hammond & WL Neale v Leicestershire at Gloucester 1937
  • 5th – 261 WG Grace & WO Moberly v Yorkshire at Cheltenham 1876
  • 6th – 320 GL Jessop & JH Board v Sussex at Hove 1903
  • 7th – 248 WG Grace & EL Thomas v Sussex at Hove 1896
  • 8th – 239 WR Hammond & AE Wilson v Lancashire at Bristol 1938
  • 9th – 193 WG Grace & SAP Kitcat v Sussex at Bristol 1896
  • 10th – 131 WR Gouldsworthy & JGWT Bessant v Somerset at Bristol 1923

Bowling

  • Best Bowling – 10–40 EG Dennett v Essex at Bristol 1906
  • Best Match Bowling – 17–56 CWL Parker v Essex at Gloucester 1925
  • Wickets in Season – 222 TWJ Goddard in 1937 and 1947
  • Wickets in Career – 3170 CWL Parker 1903–1935

Shirt sponsors

One Day / T20 Cricket

Season Kit Supplier Kit Sponsor
FC LA T20
2000 Avec Merchant Investors n/a
2001 GM
2002
2003 Surridge Acorn Recruitment
2004 Marston's
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009 Gray-Nicolls
2010
2011 Total Sitec
2012
2013

References

  1. ↑ "Friends Life t20 cricket is coming to Cheltenham". Gloucestershire County Cricket Club (gloscricket.co.uk). 26 November 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2013. 
  2. ↑ An unofficial seasonal title sometimes proclaimed by consensus of media and historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted. Although there are ante-dated claims prior to 1873, when residence qualifications were introduced, it is only since that ruling that any quasi-official status can be ascribed.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Rae, p.89.
  4. ↑ CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved on 24 November 2008.
  5. ↑ "Swinging onto centre stage". Andrew Miller (ESPNcricinfo). 2 June 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2013. 
  6. ↑ "Kent take Twenty20 in thrilling final". Andrew McGlashan (ESPNcricinfo). 4 August 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2013. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.

Bibliography

  • H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
  • Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
  • Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
  • Simon Rae, W G Grace, Faber & Faber, 1998
  • Template:J R Webber, The Chronicle Of W.G., The Association Of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, 1998
  • Roy Webber, The Playfair Book of Cricket Records, Playfair Books, 1951
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See also
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