Gubbo nervous 90's

By Rogers and Out
April 27 2015

Rogers and Out Reports on excellent batting by Nick Gubbins and Adam Voges plus good hostile bowling by Jamie Overton which were the highlights of a fine day's cricket at Taunton on day two of our County Championship game against Somerset.

As contingency, I had purchased a ticket for the second leg of the FA Youth Cup final at Stamford Bridge in case of inclement weather at Taunton. Needless to say, as I strolled to the station in the early morning, I forgot to take it, but as it turned out, it didn't matter as play ran through until around 6.50. My journey was uneventful, and on arrival at Taunton, I noted the cider festival at the Plough Inn as mentioned by Big Harvey plus the Ale House opposite was offering London Pride and Tribute at 99 pence per pint. Sadly, I was unable to take advantage of either due to the late finish. I attempted to enter the ground at the Brian Rose gate, but they were unable to take a cash admission so I had a quite lengthy walk around to the main entrance, reminiscent of going to the wrong end at the old Den, but not nearly as dangerous.

Before start of play, the scoreboard was registering a 5-1 bonus point lead for the home side but in fairness, this was quickly amended once the game got underway. Lewis Gregory opened the bowling from the Somerset Pavilion end, and with his second ball, found the edge of Sam Robson's bat. Marcus Trescothick took a simple catch at second slip and we were 10/1.

Nick Compton came in at number three and pushed a single to cover to get off the mark. Tim Groenwald operated from the River End, and Nick Gubbins steered our first boundary away off him between the slips and point then drove Gregory for four through mid off a couple of overs later. Compo struck an elegant cover drive to the ropes off Gregory in the eleventh over but after a Groenwald maiden in the next over, we were 31/1. Both Nicks were scoring quite nicely, when in the 17th over, directly after an extravagant play and miss, umpire Wharf deemed Compo to have edged (or gloved) a catch to a tumbling Barrow down leg side off Gregory and we were reduced to 60/2, Compton having made 28.

Captain Voges was next man in and Trego and Jamie Overton took over bowling duties for Somerset. Overton's first ball was beautifully driven straight to the boundary by Gubbo, who was scoring freely on both sides of the wicket. In the 26th over, Gubbins registered his half century with a fine cover drive off Trego. His fifty took 88 balls with nine fours. Voges too was looking in good form and was particularly prolific on the off side behind square. Jim Allenby and Abdur Rehman had entered the attack for the home team and we took lunch on 123/2 after 35 overs, with Gubbins on 61 and Voges 27. The day had started in bright sunshine but some ominous looking clouds were bearing down upon us and the temperature had dropped accordingly.

We resumed after lunch and both batsmen were looking to emulate the efforts of Trescothick and Hildreth from the previous day. Voges claimed his fifty from 69 balls with nine fours and the one hundred partnership came up in the 44th over. Gubbo was in fine fettle, lofting Gregory for a couple of sixes over midwicket. After the second of these, Gregory conceded four byes and his head seemed to go down despite his two wickets. It was to his credit that he managed to take a couple more later on. The light was now becoming quite poor and Somerset employed Tommy Cooper and Rehman to keep us playing. However, after 51 overs, the inevitable happened and we came off at 194/2, with Gubbins on 91 and Voges 65.

An early tea was taken and play resumed at 3.50. Unfortunately this resumption lasted just a single over and we were off again until 4.35, leaving 31 overs. Overton bowled the first over after the delay and produced a barrage of quick, short pitched deliveries to Gubbo. This seemed to unsettle our young opener and he fell edging an Overton ball to Trescothick at second slip eight short of his century, a little reminiscent of his effort against the same team at Uxbridge last season. It had been an excellent stand of 139 with the captain and our score was now 199/3.

James Franklin was next at the crease and the captain took us through the 200 barrier with two runs to square leg. Franklin was looking much more assured with the bat than I'm told he was with the ball yesterday and Voges was looking all set for a ton. Alas, after a trademark boundary cut behind square off Gregory, Voges fell leg before for 98 from the very next ball, leaving us on 246/4 in the 65th over.

Neil Dexter came in next and although he cut Gregory wide of gully for four in the 67th over, he chipped up the next ball for Gregory to hold an easy caught & bowled opportunity for his fourth wicket. Somerset were now rotating their bowlers a lot but the incoming Simmo and Franklin were looking fairly comfortable. However the new ball ended our time in the comfort zone as Overton uprooted both Simmo's and Ollie's middle stumps in the same over to leave us 297/7. James Harris managed to survive until close of play on five and Franklin did well for his unbeaten 41.

We closed on 306/7 after 83 overs. A fine day of cricket with pluses for both teams, although with bad weather forecast for Wednesday, a draw looks hot favourite. I just had enough time for a couple of pints at the Ring of Bells before my 7.36 train home.

The negatives of the day - it was cold for much of the day, the inability to pay cash at the Brian Rose gate and the late Jamie Overton over. The positives - excellent batting by Gubbins and Voges, Franklin looking like he knows how to bat and an all round good day of cricket.