Preview
A rapid return to Leicester, scene of Gloucestershire’s disappointing
One Day Cup defeat. It is not beside the point that both sides that batted
first in the Semi-Finals struggled and lost in short games.
Today, the only thing left to play for is some pride and to avoid the
wooden spoon, with Yorkshire, despite their huge points deduction, determined
to get back into the promotion race. With just three games left,
Gloucestershire’s opportunities to register a win are running out. The XIII
includes several players who have impressed in the One Day Cup but features a heavily
depleted attack that few would have predicted at the start of the season.
Day 1
Leicestershire won the Toss and,
unsurprisingly, seeing the green in the pitch, elected to put Gloucestershire
in, with the 10:30 start likely to favour the seamers, even if the forecast for
increasingly hot and dry weather suggested that Zafar Gohar might have an
important part to play in the second innings. The suggestion was that the
morning session might be tricky but, if the batsmen could get through it, there
were runs to be made later in the day. If only cricket were played on paper!
The reality would be so different.
Jack Taylor and Joe Phillips missed out, with
Harry Tector making a debut and the Shire fielding five front-line bowlers, plus
the more than useful part-time options of Ben Charlesworth and Ollie Price.
Bright sunshine and a steady start from Ben
Charlesworth and Chris Dent who were 16-0 from the first six overs and looking
comfortable, even though some deliveries were moving prodigiously. Ben Charlesworth
was the main aggressor, taking three boundaries off a Wiaan Mulder over. Leicestershire
replaced Mulder with Tom Scriven to join, first the economical Chris Wright in
the attack and, later, Matt Salisbury. A scoring rate that had reached 5-an-over
was braked immediately with 16 dot balls. Tom Scriven then produced a superb
delivery that just hit the top of the off bail and saw Ben Charlesworth on his
way for 32: 49-1 and some of the gloss taken off the bright start. That Tom
Scriven wicket maiden marked the third consecutive maiden and, suddenly,
batting was looking complicated. It was a relief when Chris Dent cut a ball
through the covers for four to bring up the 50 in the 15th over.
Obviously, he enjoyed the shot as he then pulled another to the short
Mid-wicket boundary later in the over. However, the brake was applied so
effectively, that Tom Scriven’s first six overs produced just two singles as the
occasional ball kept very low, while others moved prodigiously off the pitch.
49-1 from 10.3 overs became 73-1 from 30 at
Lunch. The Chris Dent-Ollie Price partnership had produced 24 runs from exactly
100 balls. Since the quick start, just 24 runs had come in 19.3 overs of hard battle.
However, it was grafting that could pay-off big later, if the batsmen could
continue to hang in there. Unfortunately, they could not.
Ollie Price did not last long after Lunch,
bowled playing studiously forward to Wiaan Mulder in the sixth over after the
resumption: 77-2, Price 11. Miles Hammond then played across a ball from Mulder
that kept very low: 93-3 and, with Zafar to come in at 7, Gloucestershire in
all too familiar trouble. Finally, Chris Dent cracked a cover drive for four to
bring up the hundred with the last ball of the forty-fourth over and take his
own score onto 47. He brought up his fifty from 138 balls with another, lovely
cover drive in the forty-sixth over. Chris Dent had little chance to celebrate:
Tom Scriven straightened one into him that missed his defensive push and had
him plumb. 108-4 in the forty-eighth and the last recognised pair at the crease
and another wicket maiden for Tom Scriven. That rapidly became 109-5 as James Bracey,
having just changed to a leg stump guard, chose to leave the wrong ball and,
again, the ball just clipped the off bail. It could have been even worse
because Zafar must have been very, very close to being LBW first ball. Even so,
the reprieve did not last long. Zafar came down the track a little to Sciven,
played an impeccable forward defensive that caught the edge and gave Ben Cox
his first catch behind on his debut. 120-6 and all the hard work before Lunch
being undone. Josh Shaw then edged his second ball but, to his relief, it was
dropped at First Slip.
Shaw and Tector battled out almost nine overs
before Josh Shaw was given LBW to Umar Amin. 143-7 and the innings sinking
fast, 145-7 at Tea and an afternoon of toil to follow the good morning.
The good ship SS Gloucestershire continued to
take on water after the resumption and rapidly sunk beneath the Leicester
waves,
Chris Wright got Harry Tector LBW for 18.
148-8. Zaman Akhter got a ball that lifted a little that he could only balloon
to Second Slip, running backwards to take it. 158-9. And Luke Charlesworth got another
straight ball that seemed to keep very low and was LBW. 159ao.
77-1 just after Lunch seemed a long time
before.
With David Payne, Tom Price, Matt Taylor,
Ajeet Dale and Marchant de Lange on the books, you would have got long odds at
the start of the season against Josh Shaw and Zaman Akhter sharing the New
Ball. Zaman Akhter was expensive, but Josh Shaw put a superb delivery through Sol
Budinger to bowl him and make the score 16-1 after 3.2 overs. However, Hill and
Patel scored quickly and were putting Leicestershire in a very powerful
position when Dom Goodman got a ball just outside off to lift a little and take
the edge of Hills’ bat: 71-2, Lewis Hill 21. Even so, with the game moving into
the final half hour of the day, Gloucestershire’s position was getting critical,
with quick wickets needed. Up came the 100 in the 21st over with the
batsmen now playing for the Close.
A chastening day. 103-2 from 24 overs, with
Rishi Patel 60* and Colin Ackermann 4*. Just 56 behind and the game in danger
of sailing away from Gloucestershire on Day 2 as Leicestershire continue to chase
promotion.
Day 2 ended with Gloucestershire staring down
the barrel. That much was not so unexpected, but the manner of getting there
was. A collapse after a stirring fightback has left a three-day defeat almost
certain unless something remarkable happens, but there was an unexpected twist
at the end of the day that has opened a ray of hope. Yes, it’s the hope that
kills.
Bright sunshine again to greet the players. Dom
Goodman and Josh Shaw with the ball and in desperate need of early wickets.
Josh Shaw, in his unexpected role as leader of the attack initially kept things
mean and tight (his first ten overs in the innings went for just thirteen runs),
although Dom Goodman took a couple of overs to get into a rhythm. However,
quick wickets did not come, and Leicestershire were creeping ever-nearer to a
first innings lead. Two boundaries from an over in which Shaw seemed to try to push
a little too hard, losing his line and length, took the score to 131-2, which
provided a sizeable headache for James Bracey. This has been an issue with Josh
Shaw. He has bowled some excellent spells, without much reward but, when he
pushes for that little bit of extra pace that he needs to discomfort batsmen
rather than just contain them, he can often prove expensive.
The breakthrough came, finally, at 150-2 and,
to no one’s great surprise, through the hand of Ollie Price, in his role as
Second Slip. Colin Ackerman drove at a ball on fifth stump line from Zaman Akhter
and edged. The ball flew very fast to the right of Ollie Price who, somehow,
took it one-handed, leaping like a salmon, to hold a chance that would have
been chest-high for Third Slip. Remarkable.
In the following over, Luke Charlesworth
removed the other set batsman to take his maiden First Class wicket. Some nice
movement away from the bat, Rishi Patel edged, and brother Ben pouched the
catch at First Slip. Not many maiden First Class wickets are caught by the
bowler’s brother. Patel out for 73, 150-4 and two new batsmen at the crease. An
opportunity has presented itself for the Shire to limit the damage. Umar Amin
then edged a big drive at Zaman Akhter and Ollie Price took a simple catch. 150-5.
Three wickets in 11 balls for no runs and, suddenly, the complexion of the game
had changed completely.
In the past, Gloucestershire have had
problems consolidating breakthroughs. As Mulder and Kimber took Leicestershire into
the lead and threatened to build again that thought must have been in the back
of their minds. There was a frustrating Josh Shaw over that went for eleven,
including overthrows, which could so easily have been a runout and two
boundaries, as well as an edge that could have floated up to James Bracey
rather than falling just safe, seemed to auger ill tidings: that bit of luck
was missing. However, Dom Goodman then produced a superb delivery that bowled
Louis Kimber neck and crop. 178-6 with Lunch just an over away.
183-6 at the break and the lead just 24.
Leicestershire were still thinking that a 100+ lead was quite possible. They
could not imagine that it would go as horribly wrong for them as it had,
twenty-four hours earlier for Gloucestershire.
Ben Cox and Wiaan Mulder started well.
Thirteen came from fifteen balls after Lunch before Luke Charlesworth bowled a
straight one that only got up half stump height and evaded Ben Cox’s studious
defensive shot, thudding into the pad. That was 191-7 and Luke Charlesworth’s
debut was getting better and better. Mulder and Scriven brought up the 200 and
seemed set on making hay. Zaman Akhter gave Mulder a short ball, which he
hooked… straight down the throat of the jubilant Luke Charlesworth at Fine Leg.
203-8. In came Chris Wright, whose innings was the shortest possible. Another
batsman bowled playing an immaculate forward defensive and, again, the suspicion
that the ball had kept low.
Zaman Akhtar on a hat-trick but, first,
another over for Luke Charlesworth with a number 11 who could boast just one
run in his four innings through the season in his sights. To everyone’s
surprise, Scriven took a single from the first ball of the over and gave the bowler
five deliveries at the rabbit: it took him four before James Bracey brought off
a splendid flying catch. 203ao. The lead 45.
Eight wickets had fallen for 54, in an eerie echo
of the Gloucestershire innings.
What could Gloucestershire do about it? Their
start could not have been much worse. Chris Dent batted 21 balls for 9 before
chopping on to Chris Wright. 9-1. Ollie Price lasted eight balls before the
ninth just clipped the off bail. 10-2 and Ben Charlesworth had not yet scored.
From this highly unpromising position, Ben
Charlesworth consolidated, while Miles Hammond took up the attack, albeit with
some fortune. There was nothing wrong, though, with his Cover Drive to level
the scores, while Ben Charlesworth stroked another to put the Shire into the
lead. This stroke seemed to galvanise him: from 7* from 46 balls he moved up a gear
and caught Miles Hammond who was scoring at better than a run-a-ball. A
one-bounce four over the bowler’s head was a warning that he felt that he eye
was in but, just as he seemed set for a big score, he tried to come down the pitch
again to Colin Ackermann, skewed a big outside edge and was caught at Mid-Off for
33. 80-3 and, again, after an excellent partnership of 70, the Shire in need of
someone to go on and make a start count.
A single from a Cover Drive by Miles Hammond
brought up the fifty lead. And off they went for Tea at 95-3, Miles Hammond 40*,
Harry Tector 10*.
When you are 80-2, 35 ahead and fighting hard
a few minutes before Tea, you should not be thinking of the opposition batting
before the Close. Sadly, it looked all too likely as the middle and lower order
crumbled, even if some late resistance took the innings into the third morning.
Miles Hammond’s best innings tend to be when
he goes for his shots. Having been scoring at better than a run-a-ball, he went
into his shell and made just 9 runs from 37 balls after the dismissal of Ben
Charlesworth. The end was predictable. He became yet another batsman to miss a
straight ball, was hit low on the back pad by Wiaan Mulder and departed LBW for
46. 108-4 and the options to set a reasonable target were running out. Harry
Tector has shaped up well, without making the weight of runs that he might
have. Again, he got set and looked solid before playing across the line to
Chris Wright and falling LBW for 24. 122-5, the lead just 77 and Zafar Gohar
coming out. Now, everything rested on James Bracey who had received a run
transfusion in the One Day Cup. Could he turn it into Championship runs? A
brace of boundaries from a Wiaan Mulder over – a guide through Third Man and a stroked
Cover Drive – suggested that he could. The lead was creeping up towards one hundred.
Thirty or forty more from this pair and, in a low-scoring match, would give something
to defend if someone could shepherd the tail to fiddle a few more. James Bracey
was looking in decent form and Zafar was defending with his life.
On came the drinks. Did that break the
concentration of the batsmen? First ball after the break, James Bracey fenced
at Scriven outside off and Ben Cox took an excellent, low catch. Bracey out for
18, 138-6 and plenty of overs left in the day to finish off the tail. Zafar did
not last long, falling after an uncharacteristic, totally defensive innings. 143-7.
Josh Shaw did not hang around for long either. Another fence outside off.
Another low catch to Ben Cox. 146-8. With 8 overs still to come, it looked very
much as if Leicestershire would be facing two or three overs.
Fortunately, Zaman Akhtar and Dom Goodman had
other ideas. Zaman Akhtar opened his account with a huge six back over Colin
Ackermann’s head. Colin Wright came back, and Zaman creamed him through the covers.
In the penultimate over of the day, Dom Goodman got a loose ball outside leg
and showed that he too could hit the ball if it was there to hit, hammering it for
another boundary backwards of square. Last over of the day. The lead 132. For
heaven’s sake, don’t get out now! Zaman took the over and, with some
frustration showing in the bowlers, saw it out, adding a couple for another
Cover Drive that belied his status as a tail-ender.
179-8 at the Close. 33 precious runs added
and, what was even more important, the feel-good factor of knowing that the
bowlers were getting frustrated. The lead 134. Defeat still looks more than
likely, but twenty more runs might just make it interesting.
Either way, the game will end tomorrow,
probably mid-afternoon.
The mathematics looked simple. Leicestershire
needed two wickets to set up a small chase. Gloucestershire needed a miracle.
In the end, Leicestershire won very comfortably indeed, but arrived at the win
by an unexpectedly scenic route.
The hosts opened with spin from Kimber and Ackerman.
Given how tough it had been to score off the seamers, Zaman Akhter and Dom
Goodman were not complaining, as ten came off the second over of the day
courtesy of a Zaman boundary and four byes that beat everything. Dom Goodman
lofted Ackermann back over his head for four and the lead passed 150. Up came
the 50 partnership and then the 200 with a single to Akhter. Leicestershire’s
frustration was only increasing as they brought back the quicks to try and break
this stand. Finally, Dom Goodman got an inside edge to Wiaan Mulder after
another battling knock that suggests that he may start moving up the order
sooner or later. 200-9, Goodman out for 15 and, surely, that was that? Zaman
has other ideas, cover-driving Mulder for another boundary. Zaman trusted Luke
Charlesworth to look after himself and the pair took a lot of singles, pushing
the ball into gaps. Finally, Wiaan Mulder bowled a straight one that Luke
Charlesworth missed. After a long delay, the umpire raised the finger. 212ao.
167 the lead. Far more than had looked likely in the evening session.
Defending 167, Josh Shaw opened with just two
Slips, with James Bracey, conscious that saving runs was just as important as
taking wickets, having a lot of fielders in run-saving positions. In just the
third over, Josh Shaw served-up a ball outside off that moved away a little.
Rishi Patel went for the drive and James Bracey took the catch. 4-1. Dare one hope?
In Shaw’s second over, Sol Budinger aimed a slash outside off and James Bracey
took a low catch that just carried. 7-2. And an awful shot from Budinger. In
this situation, you do not want a pair to get set and could not afford to give
up cheap runs. Unfortunately, both were happening. Luke Charlesworth struggled
a bit with line and length and gave up three boundaries in an over: 42/2 and
the batsmen getting right on top again. In retrospect, that was probably the
moment when Leicestershire knew that they were going to win the match. A savage
pull by Ackermann, a guide through Third Man and two more boundaries from the
next over, bowled by Akhter brought up the 50: a third boundary in the over
made it 6 boundaries in just 11 deliveries. Defending a small total, that was
too many. Up came the 50 partnership with another boundary and the life was being
squeezed out of the bowlers and the bowling.
The last over before Lunch leaked another 11
runs, Zaman being cut for two boundaries. It was not a good way to end the
session. The target was under 100, the bowling was looking defeated, and this
was looking uncannily like the Leicestershire first innings in which a big
third wicket partnership marked the difference between the two sides. Luck had
played its part: Lewis Hill had inside-edged a ball from Dom Goodman that missed
the Leg Stump by a whisker but once set, batting was looking quite simple.
Josh Shaw with the ball after Lunch, having
taken 2-10 from 5 overs in his New Ball spell, and the feeling that this was a
last throw of the dice. And if the news on the field was not great, the news
that Harry Tector had a broken finger and would join the casualty list did not
help to raise spirits either.
At the other end, Zafar Gohar who, unusually
for him, had been an anonymous presence in the match. A delivery way down leg, helped
on its way by Colin Ackermann and not much that substitute, Jack Taylor, could
do to stop another boundary. Shaw huffed and puffed (literally). Zafar seemed
to be missing his metronomic accuracy and runs kept coming, albeit a little more
slowly.
It was all too easy. Up came the fifty
partnership. Ackermann hooked Josh Shaw and the ball went straight through the
hands of the boundary fielder (no names, no pack drill). The next ball was cut
for another boundary. Lewis Hill swept Zafar, top-edged, but the ball fell
short of Jack Taylor. Ackermann swept, missed, the ball missed leg stump by a
whisker and the umpire gave it as a wide to bring up the 100… Heads were
dropping visibly because that little bit of luck that was needed was missing.
The hundred partnership came up with both
batsmen on 49*. Another single and Lewis Hill had his 50 (74 balls, 8x4). Another
legside wide from the suffering Zafar who must have found this new
interpretation of the law somewhat incomprehensible, and then Colin Ackermann
got the single to bring up his 50 (84 balls, 8x4). If that were not enough,
with the overrate at -2, there was the threat of losing two of the three points
from the match unless it could be rectified.
On came Ollie Price and Colin Ackermann came
down the pitch to meet him and loft him over Long On for a huge 6. The 150 up
and fewer than 15 to get. Next ball cut for a boundary to take him to 86*. Seven
to win. Three singles and Colin Ackermann patted a ball gently to Mid On where
another horrible misfield allowed it through to the boundary for the winning
runs. It was all too easy in the end.
In the end, Gloucestershire were well beaten
and now look certain to go winless through a season that started with such high
hopes.
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