The 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was the 4th Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, an English county cricket tournament, held between 3 May and 3 September 2005. The competition was contested by all 18 first-class counties, as well as 10 minor counties and the national teams of Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark, to make up a full 32-team tournament. The final was won by the Hampshire Hawks, who beat the Warwickshire Bears by 18 runs at Lord's on 3 September 2005.
This would be the final year that the competition used a purely knockout format, and was also the final year to date in which the minor counties also participated. It would be the first year white balls and coloured clothing were used, although red balls and white clothing were still used in the early stages in matches between first class counties and the minor counties.
Format The eighteen first-class counties were joined by ten minor counties – Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Devon, Northumberland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Wales Minor Counties and Wiltshire – as well as the national teams of Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland. Teams who won in the first round progressed to the second round, those who won in the second round progressed to the quarter-finals. Winner from the quarter-finals progressed to the semi-finals and winners from that round progressed to the final at Lord's, which was held on 3 September 2005.
Fixtures
First round The first round was held on 3–5 May. While some upsets looked possible at times, with teams such as the Netherlands, Berkshire and Staffordshire threatening their first-class opponents, there were no first round surprises. Two of the games featured two first-class teams: Durham lost to Derbyshire by one wicket off the last ball; Somerset were edged out by Leicestershire in a very low-scoring thriller.
Northamptonshire's Charl Pietersen took 7 for 10 at Svanholm Park, Brøndby as Denmark fell to the competition's second lowest score in its history, for 56 all out. 24 of those runs were extras, with no Dane scoring more than 8 with the bat. Pietersen, who was playing in his debut match for the Northants first team said, "The ball was swinging about and they were perfect conditions for bowling. I just concentrated on getting the ball in the right areas and the conditions did the rest. I'm grateful for the opportunity I've been given by Northants. I'm here to learn and try to get myself in the first team on a regular basis. No cricketer wants to play second-team cricket and I'm no different. But one performance won't get me in, I've got to be consistent with my wicket-taking and my economy."
It took Northamptonshire one ball less than 17 overs to make 59 for 2 to win the match just before lunch as the Danes were humbled. Afterwards the Danish coach said, "We knew it was going to be difficult. We are short of money but we are trying to develop every time we play against different opposition. We have a lot of young players and it was good for them to test themselves against the professionals." (BBC scorecard)
Nick Knight made 108 in Rotterdam to take Warwickshire to 237 for 5, despite five maidens being bowled by the Dutch. In reply Holland were 101 for 4 off 27 overs when rain prevented play for the first day, leaving them 137 to win off 23 overs on the second day. Daan van Bunge was doing well with 37 off 37 balls at close. Van Bunge was the mainstay of the reply on the second day, and the Dutch looked good as long as he and Billy Stelling were at the crease, and they led the way to 205 for 5 before Stelling was caught off Neil Carter. That precipitated a collapse, as the last 4 wickets went for 9 runs, and Warwickshire managed a 23-run victory. (BBC scorecard)
Berkshire did well at their home ground in Reading. Despite 80 from Phil Weston, Gloucestershire only made 223 from 49.3 overs. Apart from a second-wicket partnership worth 118 between Weston and Chris Taylor, wickets fell regularly, leaving the minor county in with a clear chance. Berkshire progressed well in reply, reaching 69 for 2 off 14 overs when rain halted play for the day. On the second day, however, Berkshire soon capitulated for 138, as Sri Lankan spinner Upul Chandana took 4 for 27. The last eight wickets fell for 26 runs. (BBC scorecard)
Andrew Crook scored freely for Lancashire at Sir Paul Getty's Ground at Wormsley as he broke Lancashire's one-day record with his 162 not out. Glen Chapple gave support as he scored the competition's fastest ever half-century, making 55 in just 16 balls as the first-class team finished on 370 for 4. They were denied the chance to wrap up the win on the first day though, as rain halted play with Buckinghamshire on 39 for 2. No play was possible on the second day, and with 10.3 overs of Buckinghamshire's innings bowled, a decision was possible on the Duckworth-Lewis method.(BBC scorecard)
No play was possible on the first day at Exmouth because of rain. When play started on what was a wettish pitch with a slow outfield Essex hit over the top and ended on 264 for 5 off their 50 overs, with Andy Flower and Ravinder Bopara recording half-centuries. Devon were not competitive in reply and soon succumbed, making only 84, although that could be seen as a recovery from 23 for 6 - a position they were in thanks to Essex pacers Andre Adams and Darren Gough, who took three wickets each with the new ball. Neil Hancock, who turned out in two Twenty20 games and one National League match for Somerset in 2004, top scored with 40 despite batting at seven. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Ireland, trying to emulate their success in this competition against Surrey the previous year, fared poorly on the first day at Belfast. After being put into bat by Yorkshire, the visitors' fast bowler Matthew Hoggard took two wickets to help reduce them to 33 for 3 when rain put an end to proceedings for the day after 12.3 overs. After the play that was possible, Irish vice-captain Kyle McCallan said, "It was disappointing losing our top three batsmen so early on. But our strength is in our depth of batting. It's not the end of the world at the moment and we're still hoping to post a total of around 200."
On the second day they achieved this, reaching 201 thanks to half-centuries from Eoin Morgan and Peter Gillespie, but it was never going to be enough against Yorkshire. Half-centuries from Ian Harvey, Michael Vaughan and Phil Jaques saw the visitors home with 15 balls to spare as they made 202 for 4.(BBC scorecard)
Rain meant there was no play on the first day at Jesmond. On a second day where plenty of runs were available, Northumberland put on 206 for 8 with Stephen Humble making an unbeaten 88 from number 8 in the batting order. Middlesex in the shape of Ed Smith and Paul Weekes knocked them off in just 31.3 overs. Weekes ended up with 106, Middlesex' first List A century of the season. (BBC scorecard)
Kent came close to being humiliated by the minor county Wiltshire at Salisbury as they were bowled out for 160, with Kevin Nash taking 4 for 46. In reply, Wiltshire were always in with a chance, but lost wickets regularly, with Simon Cook taking 4 for 22. However, with 10 runs needed off the last over, Nash was run out to seal a Kent win. (BBC scorecard)
Bedfordshire batted first at Luton. They progressed slowly, making their first 50 in the 23rd over. Whilst they improved to 143 for 9 in their 50 overs, it was never going to be enough. By way of comparison, it took Sussex six overs to reach their first 50, with Ian Ward (65 off 44) scoring most of the early runs, although admittedly batting was easier on the drying pitch. Sussex overhauled their modest target with 31.3 overs to go - almost two thirds of their allotted quota. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Durham put on 234 in their 50 overs at Chester-le-Street, mostly thanks Paul Collingwood, who scored 82 from 83 balls. Spin bowler Ant Botha took 4 for 44. In reply, Steve Harmison performed well, trapping Michael Di Venuto lbw with his third ball and, in a hostile and accurate spell, had Hassan Adnan caught at first slip. He ended with three for 45. Derbyshire were wobbling, but anchored by Chris Bassano who eked out 57 from 104 balls. This, along with 50 from Graeme Welch, kept Derbyshire in the game, but it needed a tenth wicket partnership of 16 between Botha and Kevin Dean to see them through on the last ball of the game. (Cricinfo scorecard)
It was an unusual game at Grace Road, which was all done by 3.30pm. The ball swung greatly, and there was seam movement, and Charl Willoughby of Leicestershire made the most of them first, taking 6 for 16 as Somerset were dismissed for 94 - though it could have been much worse, as they were 58 for 9 before Ian Blackwell and Simon Francis attacked and added 36 for the last wicket. Marcus Trescothick, the Somerset captain, who only made 11 said, "Conditions were not conducive to one-day cricket, that's for sure. Unfortunately, we lost the toss and had the worst of it, but we still thought we could win because we have more consistent length bowlers. Even 130 or so could have been a great score."
Leicestershire themselves struggled in reply, and Somerset took wickets regularly, reducing the hosts to 70 for 7. However, they were not able to take another, as Leicestershire ended on 96 for 7 - Ottis Gibson and Claude Henderson adding 26 for the eighth wicket, Leicestershire's highest partnership of the match. (Cricinfo scorecard)
The first day at The Grange saw no play because of rain. After losing the toss, Scotland were put in, and the bowlers immediately made it very difficult for Scotland. It took them six overs to make their first ten runs, and every time they tried to accelerate, they lost wickets. In the end, they could only muster 134 all out in 46.5 overs. Vikram Solanki and Stephen Moore made this target look easy, passing the required 135 runs without losing a wicket in 5 balls fewer than 20 overs. Both batsmen made half-centuries. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Shropshire batted first at Whitchurch, making only 132 as Shane Warne and Richard Logan took 3 wickets each. This was never a big enough target to hold off Hampshire. The crowd were treated to a powerful innings by England's new star one-day performer, Kevin Pietersen, who had been promoted to No. 1 in the batting order. He scored 76 off 49 balls in an innings that included six sixes and seven fours as Hampshire racked up 133 for 3 off 21.1 overs. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Last year, Surrey were knocked out in Round One of this Trophy by Ireland, and so they would have come to Leek determined to avoid the same ignominy this time round. Staffordshire did push them hard, however. Staffordshire batted first, and made 186, with 23 wides showing how inaccurate the Surrey bowling was. In reply, ex-Middlesex bowler, David Follett, took 3 for 13 to reduce Surrey to a worrying 47 for 4. Then Mark Ramprakash came in, who steaded the Surrey ship with 49, before he was run out, leaving Surrey 45 to win off 62 balls with 4 wickets left. Rikki Clarke and Martin Bicknell got most of them, as Surrey won with 192 for 7 with 7 balls to go, Bicknell winning the game with a six. (Cricinfo scorecard)
After rain, play only began at 3pm at Bury St Edmunds with Glamorgan batting first. The highlight of their innings was an undefeated 100 from Matthew Elliott in 104 balls, with his partners contributing usefully as the visitors racked up an imposing 320 for 5. Suffolk were never in contention, and to spare the need for the match going into a second day, play continued in near-darkness to 8.40pm, with Glamorgan bowling their last 32 overs (all with spin, in order to make conditions playable for batsmen) in 80 minutes. Staffordshire finally finished on 177 for 8 off their 50 overs, recovering from 69 for 6. (Cricinfo scorecard)