Cox, Rhodes shine on day of youthful promise

For Steve Rhodes, one feels, Worcestershire is a family thing. Nine of the team playing in this match came through the county's Academy and it hardly takes preternatural insight to understand the pride a director of cricket takes in such a fact. So when Ben Cox cover-drove Liam Norwell to the boundary to reach his first century for over two years it represented another small step in Rhodes' development of a group of mostly young players capable of winning promotion to the first division and then staying at English cricket's top table. The former is something Worcestershire have managed four times under Rhodes; the latter has clearly been trickier.

Cox eventually became the first of three late wickets taken in four balls by the medium-pacer Kieran Noema-Barnett but by the time he edged an attempted cut to Gareth Roderick, he had made a career-best 124 and his innings had included a score of boundaries, most of them lovely, and a couple of sixes. So for the second time in 24 hours a Cheltenham crowd rose in the evening sunlight to salute a centurion and the batsman acknowledged the applause from all sides of the ground, not merely his own balcony. That shared joy is yet another distinctive feature of outground cricket.

When Cox was out Worcestershire were 279 for 7, which plainly represented a considerable recovery from 69 for 4, the total when Joe Clarke had been dismissed just after lunch. Their revival permitted Joe Leach to declare 21 runs later, once the third bonus point had been collected. No wickets fell in the eight overs of Gloucestershire's second innings following that attacking closure, but if the weather treats us just a smidgeon more kindly than forecast we can still look forward to a fine last two days of this match.

Yet on a day when the innocent excitement of youth had been gloriously evident on the College Ground, it was fitting that Cox's main ally in restoring his side's fortunes had been 23-year-old George Rhodes, with whom he put on 141 for the fifth wicket. Rhodes and Cox repulsed Gloucestershire's bowlers before besting them. Only when Cox began the post-tea session with a bunch of drives and his second hooked six off Norwell was Rhodes obviously overshadowed and that was the prelude to his dismissal, caught at backward point by Will Tavaré off Craig Miles for a patient 52. In the preceding two hours or so Rhodes had shown that shrewd judgement is a family trait as he joined Cox in resisting an attack which made good use of a pitch offering pace and bounce. It is interesting that these characteristics are particularly evident in Scarborough and Cheltenham. Yes, two outgrounds.

But the resolute batting of Rhodes and Cox was only the centrepiece of a day which had begun with crocodile lines, rucksacks of excitement and voices pitched higher than normal in first-class cricket. These curious features were present because one of the pleasanter recent initiatives undertaken by county clubs has been to invite children to championship matches. "Instead of the annual trip to Alton Towers, boys and girls, we are going to watch Shiv Chanderpaul build one of his famous innings!" Cue widespread rejoicing and Facebook mayhem. One mocks, but the children who gathered at the College Ground this cloudy Monday morning certainly entered into the spirit of the thing and seemed to enjoy themselves hugely as Gloucestershire maintained their grip on the game.

Not that their reaction to events was quite the same as long-standing county members. "Norwell, Norwell, Norwell!" they chanted as the Gloucestershire seamer had Tom Fell well caught for 2 by Noema-Barnett at fourth slip. Half an hour later favouritism became idolatry when their new hero caught Brett D'Oliveira at deep backward square leg a few yards in front of them. "Oh Norwell, we love you," they chorused, which may not be something even Liam's family chant so very often. All this enthusiasm was to be welcomed, of course, and it made a pleasant backdrop to Worcestershire's hesitant progress to 68 for 3 at lunch in reply to Gloucestershire's 383. Some might argue was that the very best thing we saw all day was a few hundred schoolchildren playing informal games of cricket on the outfield.

Yet it was all far removed from the language and tone of John Betjeman. "Floruit, floret, floreat! Cheltonia's children cry," he wrote in his poem "Cheltenham". "I composed those lines when a summer wind / Was blowing the elm leaves dry, / And we were seventy-six for seven / And they had C B Fry." Our young supporters had no need of such plucky stoicism. They had seen Jack Taylor extend his overnight century to 143 and they had watched Phil Mustard's seamers make good use of a pitch which rewarded accuracy.

Daryl Mitchell was the first Worcestershire batsman dismissed when he came half forward to a delivery from the left-arm seamer, David Payne, which tracked back into him. Just after lunch Clarke played no shot to Noema-Barnett and had his off stump knocked back as the ball moved in off the seam. Twenty minutes later the children left; their work among us was done.

Rhodes and Cox's labours, on the other hand, were just beginning and they received rich appreciation from spectators for whom a visit to the College Ground is part of their summer. By the time the two batsmen were parted, the taxis and early commuters were making their way home down Sandford Road. While those vehicles may not have been Betjeman's distant carriages jingling through the stuccoed afternoon, they did not need to be. At Cheltenham the past is never dead and it is wonderfully easy to feel young again. This is a magical cricket ground.