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Gloucestershire Gladiators v Northants Steelbacks
23/05/2010
Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B
At Bristol
Gloucestershire kept alive their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition with a narrow victory over Northants in a tense finish.
Needing a win to close the gap on Group B leaders Yorkshire to two points, the Gladiators stood firm under pressure to win by seven runs, despite an unbeaten 59 from David Sales.
With Sales at the wicket, the Steelbacks were always in with a chance of chasing down a target of 193. But Anthony Ireland and Jon Lewis kept a tight line and length in the closing overs to ensure a third win in four 40-over games.
Northants needed 14 runs to win from the last two overs, only to fall well short and leave Sales utterly frustrated as they closed on 185-7.
He had threatened to win the game for the Steelbacks with a sixth-wicket stand of 73 in 12 overs with Andrew Hall, who made 37.
But the Gladiators refused to panic, kept the run rate in check thanks partly to a miserly spell of 2-20 in eight overs from Vikram Banerjee and fielded with an intensity that proved too much for their opponents.
Hall’s departure, caught at short fine leg off a Lewis full toss in the 36th over, proved a turning point, after which Lewis and Ireland deprived Sales of the strike to exert a stranglehold.
Gloucestershire were indebted to skipper Alex Gidman for steering them to a competitive total after they won the toss and subsided to 77-4 at the halfway stage.
Batting proved far from easy on a two-paced pitch. The top order struggled to take advantage of the power plays against a Northants side eager in the field.
James Franklin was caught behind attempting to drive a ball of full length from Jack Brooks, Jonathan Batty chipped David Willey to point without scoring and Will Porterfield edged a catch to the wicketkeeper to become the first of four victims claimed by South African all-rounder Hall.
Hamish Marshall played defensively down the wrong line and was bowled by Northants captain Nicky Boje as wickets continued to tumble.
When Chris Taylor was pinned lbw playing back to Lee Daggett, half of Gloucestershire’s batsmen were back in the pavilion with only 105 runs on the board and only 14 overs remaining.
Gidman was then joined by Steve Snell and the sixth wicket pair set about repairing the damage in a stand of 76 in 12 overs.
Snell chanced his arm on more than one occasion and was the only player to score at a run a ball or better, hiotting 41 from 40 deliveries and helping himself to 5 fours to put the visitors on the back foot for the first time.
In contrast, Gidman’s innings was a painstaking affair, comprising 86 balls and including just three boundaries, yet realising 61 crucial runs.
Hall ensured Gloucestershire did not go past the 200 mark, exploiting his full repertoire of slower balls and yorkers to bowl Snell and Gidman and have Ireland caught at short fine leg to finish with 4-39 from seven overs.
