Match Reports

Gloucestershire v Derbyshire

Day Three

Gloucestershire blew the LV=County Championship Second Division promotion race wide open by becoming the first team to beat leaders Derbyshire this season.

Having dominated the first two days, Gloucestershire confirmed their superiority when carving out a comfortable seven-wicket inside-the-distance win at Bristol.

Derbyshire were bowled out for 283 in their second innings, their last seven wickets realising just 95.

Seamers David Payne and Will Gidman, who took eight wickets in the match, did the damage, returning figures of 4-89 and 4-50 respectively.

Gloucestershire then chased down a modest victory target of 85 for the loss of Jon Batty, Benny Howell and Kane Williamson.

This was Derbyshire’s first defeat in eight Championship outings this summer and their demise will give hope to the chasing pack.

Gloucestershire director of cricket John Bracewell maintained the first hour was going to prove decisive and so it proved.

Resuming on 211-5, just 12 runs ahead, Derbyshire needed to bat beyond lunch in order to make a game of it. But they lost a wicket to the 12^th ball of the day, David Wainwright edging Payne to first slip where Alex Gidman displayed safe hands.

Much depended upon Dan Redfern, 64 not out overnight, and the former England Under-19 international appeared set to pass three figures as he advanced to 77 in confident fashion before rain intervened.

A 30-minute break did the left-hander no favours and, his concentration broken, he fell tamely to the first ball after the resumption.

Wafting at a shorter delivery from Payne outside off stump, Redfern succeeded only in offering a straightforward catch to Kane Williamson at cover.

Ian Saxelby weighed in with the wicket of Tom Poynton soon afterwards, Derbyshire’s wicketkeeper being pinned on the front foot, as the visitors subsided further and it was left to Payne to apply the coup de gras shortly before lunch.

Gloucestershire’s left arm seamer pinned Tony Palladino in the crease and then repeated the feat with his very next delivery to remove Tim Groenewald, leaving Jon Clare high and dry on 43 not out.

Their team requiring a modest 85 to win, Gloucestershire supporters were reminded of a game between these two sides in Bristol in 2010. Chasing a target of 125 on that occasion, Gloucestershire were bowled out for 70 to hand Derbyshire victory after they had been dismissed for 44 on the first morning.

But Gloucestershire’s batting is made of sterner stuff these days and the top-order ensured there was to be no repeat of that particular calamity, Howell and Williamson calming any nerves in a stand of 52 for the second wicket, after which Alex Gidman and Hamish Marshall saw them safely home.

Gloucestershire’s second win in eight games this season netted them 21 points, while Derbyshire took just three.

Day Two

Alex Gidman registered his first hundred in more than a year to put Gloucestershire in the driving seat on the second day of the LV= County Championship match against Division Two leaders Derbyshire at Bristol.

The former England A batsman posted a superb 129 in a total of 294 as Gloucestershire established a meaningful first-innings lead of 199.

Shot out for a meagre 95 on the opening day, Derbyshire summoned gritty defiance when it was most needed second time round, reaching the close on 211-5 thanks in large part to half-centuries from skipper Wayne Madsen and former England Under-19 international Dan Redfern.

Although the fourth-wicket pair raised 97 to delay Gloucestershire’s victory charge, a first defeat in eight Championship games remains a real possibility for a Derbyshire side that is just 12 runs ahead with five wickets remaining.

On a day when batting proved less than straightforward beneath leaden skies, it was the elder of Gloucestershire’s Gidman brothers who provided the main talking point.

His five-hour sojourn saw him stage useful partnerships of 81, 63, 25 and 41 with Kane Williamson, Hamish Marshall, Chris Dent and Will Gidman respectively and surpass the 70 he made against Kent at Canterbury in April, his previous highest score this season.

Gidman’s first hundred since his 164 against Leicestershire at Grace Road in early May 2011 comprised 227 balls, included 14 fours and helped carry the home side attain a position of strength after resuming their first innings on 182-5.

Table-topping Derbyshire conceded a first-innings lead to Leicestershire last month before turning the tables to win, but a similar outcome appeared unlikely after their top-order again succumbed to poor shot selection.

Matt Lineker drove at a ball outside off stump and guided a straightforward catch to gully to gift Will Gidman his fifth wicket in the match.

His tally soon rose to six, Wes Durston failing to move his feet and edging a regulation catch behind, while New Zealander Martin Guptill suffered a rush of blood to the head and edged the admirably accurate Ian Saxelby behind in the act of cutting as the visitors slumped to 106-3 at tea, still 93 behind.

But Gloucestershire were held up by Madsen and Redfern, who staged a restorative stand of 97 in 26 overs for the fourth wicket.

Madsen was threatening to take the game by the scruff of the neck when Will Gidman returned at the Pavilion End to dismiss him lbw for 72 shortly before the close. Derbyshire’s captain faced 130 balls and struck 8 fours. Gidman then had Ross Whitely  caught at the wicket for 11 to end the day with 4-38.

Redfern remains unbeaten on 64 and represents Derbyshire’s best hope of avoiding a rare defeat.

Day One

A superb all-round team performance saw Gloucestershire assume a position of considerable strength on the first day of the LV= County Championship match against  Division Two leaders Derbyshire.

Gloucestershire’s seam attack demonstrated admirable discipline and unerring accuracy to skittle the visitors for a meagre 95 inside 33 overs, by far their lowest score of the season.

Thereafter, the home side’s batsmen delivered an object lesson in how to deal with the swinging Duke ball to reach the close on 182-5, a useful lead of 87 runs.

Overseas star Kane Williamson played a starring role with the bat, scoring 56 from 112 balls with ten fours and sharing in a crucial third-wicket stand of 81 in 30.5 overs with skipper Alex Gidman, who will resume tomorrow on 72 not out.

But it was Gloucestershire’s bowlers who stole the show, utterly upstaging a batting unit that had hitherto been in fine form this season.

The decision to recall David Payne following injury paid immediate dividends, the left-armer undermining Derbyshire’s top-order during an incisive spell of 3-21.

The former England Under-19 international extracted additional bounce to remove in-form opener Martin Guptill, the New Zealander deflecting a short delivery onto his stumps, and then did for Wayne Madsen in almost identical fashion,  Derbyshire’s skipper edging a catch to second slip.

In between those dismissals, left-hander Matt Lineker offered a regulation catch behind, forced into front foot indiscretion by a ball of full-length.

Instead of learning their lesson, Derbyshire’s batsmen continued to adopt an aggressive approach against the swinging ball and succumbed to a blistering spell from Will Gidman shortly before lunch, Gloucestershire’s talented all-rounder claiming 4-28 from eight overs, including a spell of three wickets in seven balls.

Dan Redfern miss-timed a pull shot and was brilliantly held at deep square leg by Ian Saxelby, Wes Durston was caught by Chris Dent at second slip in the act of cutting, David Wainwright lost his off stump to a ball that left him and Tom Poynton offered a catch at the wicket as the visitors slumped from 63-2 to 83-8 at lunch.

Saxelby weighed in with the wicket of Jon Clare, his reward for a superbly-controlled effort from the Pavilion End and Derbyshire added to their own discomfiture in the afternoon session, Tony Palladino needlessly running out Ross Whitely and then succumbing in similarly hapless fashion himself.

Palladino made partial amends when having Jeremy Batty caught behind cheaply, while Benny Howell edged Tim Groenewald to first slip for 10 as Gloucestershire slipped to 28-2.

Williamson and Alex Gidman found the right balance between caution and aggression to redress the balance in a third-wicket stand that served to confirm the home side’s superiority.

Like Williamson, Gidman weighed in with a valuable hal-century, requiring 125 balls to reach that particular landmark, and he was afforded staunch support from the in-form Hamish Marshall (31).

Whiteley removed Marshall and nightwatchman Liam Norwell shortly before the close, but Gidman is still there and in the mood to make the leaders suffer.