Nearly a month after the last ball of the County Championship season was bowled, Gloucestershire find themselves in the cool down stage of the year after nearly six months of non stop cricket.
All rounder Ollie Price was asked at the start of the season what conversations where had in the dressing room around targets and expectations for the year.
A swift response of “We want to be promoted this year and be in that top two” followed but it didn’t quite pan out that way for Glos this year.
A bottom of the table finish in the second division of the County Championship leaves a lot to be desired in that sense after such a positive couple of years in the shorter formats.
Players that won the T20 blast in 2024 still linger within the squad now and also feature in the longer versions of the sport but are unable to fully convert their form.
13 victory’s over all three formats is all that could be mustered from this season with the most success coming in the T20 Blast which only makes their success a couple years ago more telling.
Breaking it down into the different months of the season, the change in versions of the game while bringing in and losing players was always tricky.
April
The first month of the season had a 1-3 record after consecutive innings defeats in their first two outings in the County Championship Division Two.
Durham and Middlesex both dominating at their home grounds to secure early wins for the season. Durham even put on a mighty 605-5 declared before rolling their opponents for a devastating start to the Glos season.
Sprinkling of form followed in the next match as they pushed Jimmy Anderson’s Lancashire all the way but fell around 100 short with the Red Roses chasing down 203 while losing six wickets.
A great end to the month was on the cards with their first win of the season in a excellent display vs Derbyshire. A remarkable first innings that included a century by Miles Hammond and a 98 from number 10 and overseas signing Will Williams which ended in a heart breaking run out.
Chasing just 39, it was a very simply chase without a wicket falling. Ben Charlesworth and Cameron Bancroft leading them off with a first win of the season and some momentum going into May.
May
May found itself mostly dominated by the T20 blast which, as previously mentioned, is where the Bristol based team have found their best cricket.
Firstly however, it was still County Championship action and two losses rounded off the first extended stint of 4 day action. Two very close two wicket losses to Northamptonshire and Kent were tricky losses to take considering the building blocks had finally been laid with the victory over Derbyshire.
The real highlight for Glos in those tight losses was a great spell by Matt Taylor who picked up 5-47 vs Northampton to carry some confidence into the blast.
The blast form was impressive in the month of May with three very strong wins getting their campaign off to a very good start. Skittling Warwickshire Bears for just 74 was a statement way to begin. Duan Jansen (brother of Marco Jansen) picking up four in his first time in a Gloucester shirt.
A final ball thriller vs Glamorgan made it two wins for two as Matt Taylor scampered across the line while the only Blast loss of the month came to the hands of eventual champions Northampton.
a Superb batting performance rounded of may with 217 being scored against Yorkshire with Darcy Short and Joe Phillips putting on 95 together before others coming in a teeing off from ball one.
June
T20 Blast action continued into the early days of June and two more wins followed with victory’s over Somerset and Worcestershire Rapids. Somerset was fairly routine for the experienced Glos line up with the Rapids holding more of a challenge that came down to the last ball for a second time in the season.
Matt Taylor yet again proving his worth with two wickets in the final over of the game to secure the win for the Bristol side.
A sharp cut back to County Championship action led to more disappointment in the long format. Worcestershire and Northants both got the better of Glos in comfortable fashion.
Two standout performances from skipper James Bracey and Miles Hammond saw tons brought up to lead the resistance all be it in vein.
Just the two matches in the four day format before the jump back to Blast action with June being rounded off with a disappointing result vs Somerset. James Rew doing some very heavy hitting for the home side with an unbeaten 116*.
July
July was the busiest month of the season for the Glos players with a mix of 20 and 50 over cricket spread across 10 matches in the 31 days of July.
Starts with the Blast once again, as Northants continued to be a hurdle that Glos couldn’t jump over as they were defeated on what can be known only as “a road” in cricketing terms with just four wickets falling in both innings combined.
Four more results followed in the competition with two wins and two losses. Victory’s over Surrey and Worcestershire Rapids while defeats to Glamorgan and Warwickshire left things in the balance. That was enough for Gloucestershire to qualify for the quarter final stage.
In typical fashion, it fell into the hands of Northamptonshire once again as the sides met for a 5th time in the season so far to decide who would make finals day.
It was a clinical performance from the Steelbacks as they dismantled Glos to chase down 153 just two wickets down. A combination of Ricardo Vasconcelos and David Willey doing the bulk of the damage in double quick time to see the Midlands team home.
With the blast campaign over, it was time to switch attention to the One Day Cup where the struggles outside of the T20 format would continue.
Three losses and one win was the record in their first four matchups with their only win coming over Kent. Glos found themselves struggling to bat their overs and that’s a problem that creates a domino effect on others aspects of the team game.
August
As we moved into August the issue of batting out their overs seemed to disappear but the results didn’t follow. With defeats to Warwickshire and Lancashire in the early days of the month.
This was enough to see off any challenge of making the latter stages of the competition, however some confidence arrived in the shape of two wins to round off their campaign.
Notts Outlaws and finally Northants Steelbacks fell victim to Glos as they gave the fans something to cheer about, while also getting the monkey off the back about Northampton having their number all season!
The shorter formats ended it was one last push in the County Championship. Worcestershire were first up and despite another James Bracey ton, they left themselves short of a reasonable target to defend with the travelling side chasing 281 with the loss of just two wickets.
Heading all the way to Durham next as Glos were outclassed with ball and bat as they lost out by 10 wickets to the eventual Division Two champions.
September
The final month of the cricket for the year was arguably the most productive for the Bristol based side. Managing to do the double over Derbyshire through the season is something to hold onto while also pipping Lancashire to the post in a low scoring affair.
Derbyshire in particular was a nice moment for the squad with it being by far their most dominant display of the year. taking the spoils by 213 runs.
A clash with Middlesex followed and a nervy batting display being nine down mixed with some help with the weather, led to a first draw of the season for James Bracey’s men.
The last match of the year was a trip to Kent which ended as the season had began with a tough loss by eight wicket’s with the home side forced to chase just 120.
Feels as though its a season to put out the mind quicky before resetting to go again in late March. The loss of some key players like Luke Charlesworth mid way through the year had a lasting effect and filling those gaps were harder than it may have been feared.
Success in the T20 Blast was always likely considering their history with the tournament in recent years but a focus on the longer formats might be in order to regain the status as the one of the best eight county’s in the country with a promotion.
