Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club: competitions
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club: First-Class Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins YearsGloucestershire County Cricket Club: Limited Overs Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins Years
Royal London One-Day Cup
1
2015
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club: Twenty20 Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins YearsGloucestershire County Cricket Club: overview
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen teams in England and Wales, playing in the County Championship on a permanent basis. It was founded in 1870 and immediately received a first-class status, which it never changed later. It has a rather unusual emblem: two white lions standing on their hind legs with a shield, where a ship floating on the waves and a fortress on a green shore are depicted on a red background.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club: Origins
According to the surviving sources, the inhabitants of Gloucestershire got acquainted with cricket in the XVII century. However, the prototype of the game was known here even earlier – so, in the chronicles, there is information about stow-bole and stob-bole, where an early version of the bat was used, which was called a “staff”.
The earliest mention of the game of cricket dates back to the autumn of 1729, but for a long time it did not leave the borders of church parishes. Shifts were outlined only in the second half of the XIX century when a local enthusiast Dr. Henry Mills Grace founded the Mangotsfield Cricket Club, which soon merged with Coalpit Heath under the guise of West Gloucestershire.
GCCC played its first-ever match in June 1870, playing against Surrey and defeating it with an advantage of 51 runs. However, the early years of the club were not easy: Dr. Grace unsuccessfully tried to conclude a contract for the lease of land for a home ground in Eastville but was refused. It wasn’t until 1889 that Gloucestershire finally got its own Ashley Down field.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club: The Grace Dynasty
The first captain of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club was William Gilbert (abbreviated W.G.) Grace, Dr. Grace’s son. The influence of this player on the formation and popularization of cricket simply cannot be overestimated: he spent an incredible 44 seasons at the first-class level (from 1865 to 1908) and managed to lead not only Gloucestershire County Cricket Club but also the England national team, the Gentlemen, Marylebone Cricket Club and United South of England Eleven and some other clubs.
Being a right-hander, Grace Jr. excelled not only as a batsman and bowler but also as a fielder. However, he received the greatest fame as a batsman, moreover, it was William Gilbert who is deservedly considered the inventor of the foundations of the modern bat game. He was a master of all types of strikes without exception, and his knowledge of cricket was, according to historians of the discipline, truly unique. The authority of Grace Jr. and his tactical knowledge were so great that, regardless of the level of the inviting team, he quickly became a captain.
It is curious that the game of cricket did not prevent William Gilbert from successfully practicing medicine. However, while remaining an amateur cricketer, he earned more money by sports than any of his contemporaries, and for a long time remained one of the most recognizable people in the country. In parallel, he tried his hand at steeplechase and football, and after retiring, mastered golf, bowling and curling.
William Gilbert’s older brother Edward Mills and his younger brother Fred also played cricket. In 1880, the three of them took the field in a test match of the national team, which was the first such precedent in history.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club: from the first successes to the present day
The first high-profile GCCC successes came in the seventies of the century before last, when brothers Grace and Billy Midwinter led the team to the unofficial title of Champion County three times. However, in the future, its results declined – not so much because of a lack of motivation, but because of chronic problems with the composition. First of all, this concerned batsmen who, being involved in matches for the national team, could not often go on the field. In these conditions, the main burden fell on the shoulders of available players (for example, Gilbert Jessop and Charlie Townsend), who simply could not cope with the task.
However, despite all the difficulties, Gloucestershire finished second in the County Championship several times. Two such episodes occurred in 1930 and 1931, respectively, when the outstanding destroyers Charlie Parker and Tom Goddard were involved in the attack. In the post-war period, Gloucestershire County Cricket Club fought for the title four more times, but lost each time, despite the presence of such recognized stars as Tom Graveney, Mike Procter, Zaheer Abbas and Courtney Walsh.
A new stage in the history of the club began in the 90s of the twentieth century. Switching to a one-day format, Gloucestershire achieved notable success under the leadership of John Bracewell (Mark Alleyne served as captain during this period). Despite the fact that at the turn of the millennia Gloucestershire County Cricket Club could not boast of an impressive budget, it managed to assemble an excellent team, which included several international stars. From 1999 to 2002, Gloucestershire scored a series of twenty-eight wins and seven losses, with 16 wins out of 18 coming at the Bristol County Ground.
In 1999, Gloucestershire County Cricket Club won the Benson & Hedges Super Cup, beating Yorkshire in the dispute for the trophy, and took the NatWest Trophy, winning a convincing victory in the final over neighbors from Somerset. In 2003 and 2004, Gloucestershire won the C&G Trophy, and both times in the final match they faced the same opponent – Worcestershire.
Another bright flash in the recent history of the club was 2006 when Gloucestershire representative John Lewis was awarded a call-up to the national team for test matches. The player’s debut was recognized as a success, but soon the team began to reshuffle again: “Jack” Russell and Mark Alleyne retired, and as a result, she stopped coping with the game on several fronts.
Personnel problems were supplemented by organizational difficulties. The managers thought about reorganizing the Bristol County Ground in order to get a Category B in the future (this would allow them to qualify for international games). All this inevitably affected the quality of Gloucestershire’s performances, the last outstanding achievement of which was the 2007 Twenty20 Cup final.
Only eight years later, Gloucestershire County Cricket Club was able to take another trophy, beating the clear favorite – Surrey – in the Royal London One-Day Cup final. Team captain Michael Klinger was recognized as the most valuable player of the tournament, who scored 531 runs with an average of 106 per over.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club: major achievements and records
The principal rival of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is Somerset. Derby clubs regularly attract more fans to the stands than anyone else. It is curious that, although the Gloucestershire home ground is the Bristol County Ground, many Bristolians are Somerset fans, which only adds to the sharpness of the confrontation.
The most significant trophies of the team include:
- Champion County (1874, 1876 и 1877);
- Gillette Cup (1973);
- NatWest Trophy (1999 и 2000);
- Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy (2003 и 2004);
- Benson & Hedges Cup (1977 и 2000), Benson & Hedges Super Cup (1999);
- Sunday League (2000);
- Royal London One-Day Cup (2015);
- Second XI Championship (1959);
- Second XI Trophy (1995 и 1997).
The most productive Gloucestershire County Cricket Club players in history are Wally Hammond with 33,664 runs and Charlie Parker, who took 3170 wickets.
