So what on earth happened at Cheltenham today? Chasing down 339 in the fourth innings of the match, as Worcestershire did, is a notable achievement at any time, but for Gloucestershire fans it pales into insignificance after what happened the day before.
It was inexplicable. Gloucestershire captain Alex Gidman failed to enforce the follow-on with his side 202 in front. It seemed the only way he could win the match, and yet he said no. Unsure of what to do with such a large lead but very little time in which to use it, Gloucestershire were shot out for just 136.
Why Alex Gidman, why? What were you thinking? In all the years of following Gloucestershire I have never seen anything else to match this level of ineptitude. And I’ve been following Gloucestershire since I was seven. That’s an awful lot of ineptitude.
Some possible answers. BBC cricket writer Oliver Brett tweeted
@wilfinch captains reluctant to enforce it because of workload on bowlers - but yeah looks a poor decision now
Snowy on GlosCricketBlog has a different idea.
Psychology plays a large part in sport, Alex Gidman knows that. He obviously felt the psychological effect of batting last on a wearing pitch was more damaging to his team than the benefits of driving the opposition into the dirt when already down.
doctorhuw goes for the conspiracy theory.
If I were feeling cynical I would wonder whether the Board felt the potential loss of a day's gate money following that three-day game against Morgannwg was a more serious matter than Gloucestershire enforcing the follow-on and steamrollering Worcester to keep their promotion hopes alive.
None of them make much sense to me. I’m just thinking about who should be dropped first – Jon Batty (first-class batting average this year lower than Jon Lewis) or Alex Gidman?
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