Match Reports

Gloucestershire v Durham MCCU

Day 3 :

The left arm spin of Graeme van Buuren picked up four wickets - all of them lbw - as the fixture against Durham MCCU ended as a draw on the final day at the Brightside Ground.

The match - which had more than a whole day washed out in all - ended after the visitors lost their last four wickets for seven runs in 28 balls. They were finally dismissed for 238 in reply to Gloucestershire's 405-7 declared shortly before 5 o'clock, at which point the teams shook hands.

Listen to head coach Richard Dawson's post match thoughts here :

With the County Championship season only a week away, Gloucestershire will have been relieved to see the early morning rain clear to allow two sessions of play after an early lunch was taken at 12.30. It allowed all the front line bowlers to get some overs under their belts, Liam Norwell and David Payne opening up in the best conditions of the match.

Payne missed a caught and bowled chance to remove Marshall for 38, but it wasn't long before Chris Dent took a routine catch at second slip off the same bowler to send back the right hander without addition to his score.

Marshall's stand with Pollock for the Durham MCCU third wicket had been worth 88, and Pollock completed a 59 ball half century with two boundaries in Chris Liddle's first over of the day. In the same spell, however, Liddle removed him as Will Tavare stooped to take a low chance at leg gully.

Ollie Currill will have been happier with the control he showed in a five over spell from the Ashley Down Road End - albeit without success - and James McCollum and Durham MCCU captain Joe Cooke added 50 for the fifth wicket until Jack Taylor induced a lofted drive by Cooke (21) which he hit straight to Gareth Roderick at mid on ten minutes before tea.

When Graeme van Buuren trapped Graves lbw for a duck in the last over before the interval, there was a fourth different name in the wickets column on the scorecard.

Short spells remained the order of the day for the bowlers after tea and for 50 minutes the compact McCollum, along with McGrath, protected the Durham MCCU tail, McCollum completing his fifty from 93 balls with half a dozen boundaries. The return of Graeme van Buuren however, hastened the completion of the innings, and the match, as his first ball removed McGrath lbw for 12.

With no further addition to the score Liddle bowled McCollum for a patient 64 and van Buuren sent back Singh for a duck after another lbw appeal was upheld. The left arm spinner finished with 4-18 when Jahanfar became a fourth lbw victim, although after the match head coach Richard Dawson admitted the wickets came more from what he called ""stump to stump" accuracy more than any turn as Durham MCCU were dismissed for 238.

Gloucestershire now head to Worcester for a two day friendly starting on Monday, their final action before the tape goes up on the Championship season at Canterbury on April 7th.

Day 2 :

Only 43 overs play was possible on the second day of the match against Durham MCCU at the Brightside Ground, with rain and bad light preventing any further action from the point the players went off the field 40 minutes after lunch.

The morning session looked likely to be about Gloucestershire's middle order getting some time at the crease, which was exactly how it unfolded until skipper Gareth Roderick declared the first innings on 405-7, but the bowlers only had 17 overs either side of lunch before the weather intervened. The forecast for the final day is better, so they will hope for an extended opportunity then.

Gloucestershire resumed promptly at 292-3, although it was  no surprise that Phil Mustard accompanied George Hankins to the wicket at the start of play, Will Tavare having retired out on his overnight score.

Six overs elapsed under overcast skies before Durham MCCU took the second new ball, by which time Mustard had already worked McGrath to the boundary twice on the leg side and Hankins had completed his half century from 66 balls with seven fours and a six.

He too was to retire out when he'd made 59, while Mustard's cameo was ended by McGrath, who picked up a fourth wicket when the Gloucestershire 'keeper chased a ball he might have left on another day and edged it Jahanfar for 29.

McGrath would have claimed a five wicket haul had Singh not spilled a chance to dismiss Payne, but in variable light he and Jack Taylor added 72 in 14 overs without undue fuss until Singh bowled Payne for 35, at which point Gareth Roderick decided there was nothing to be gained by carrying on.

The mini session until lunch saw Payne and Norwell share the new ball, Payne dismissing both openers in a four over stint. Left hander Clark edged a catch to 'keeper Mustard for a duck and Fraine was trapped lbw for 6.

At the resumption, debutant Ollie Currill was given his first spell from the Pavilion End, although in light which had lifted a little from earlier in the day the 20 year old wasn't allowed to settle by the third wicket pair of Pollock and Marshall. Pollock executed three straight drives for four in one over, and after Marshall pulled Currill to fine leg for six, he too picked up three boundaries in quick succession.

When rain forced the players off Durham MCCU had reached 78-2, with Pollock and Marshall having added 63 in 10 overs. An early tea was taken, but after four inspections, the last of them at 5.45, umpires Michael Burns and Tom Lungley called play off for the day.

 

Day 1 :

A patient century by Will Tavare - his first in first class cricket since 2014 - was the spine of the Gloucestershire innings on the opening day of the 2017 season at the Brightside Ground.

Despite a long rain break in mid afternoon, Gloucestershire scored briskly for most of the day, closing on 292-3 with Tavare completing his hundred 15 minutes before the close with a square drive off McCollum. It was his 15th boundary in an innings that occupied more than four and a half hours.

Earlier in the day, he shared an opening stand of 128 with Chris Dent, who made 84. Graeme van Buuren (35) and George Hankins (48*) also had valuable time at the crease.

Gloucestershire included Ollie Currill and Chris Liddle in a first class team for the first time, but both spent the day in the pavilion after Durham MCCU captain Joe Cooke won the toss and asked Gloucestershire to bat in what were initially bright conditions.

Tavare and Dent soon had the scoreboard ticking along at a good rate, despite the outfield being initially slow. Dent in particular was quick to pounce on anything off line or length from opening bowlers McGrath and Owen, especially off the back foot through point.

The first ten overs contained ten boundaries and the left hander completed his fifty within the first hour's play. At that stage neither Dent or Tavare had driven the bowling to any great extent, and a pull by Dent through a straight mid wicket off Cooke typified the morning's action.

Tavare, with one of the few shots down the ground, brought up the century opening stand in the 18th over, by which point Durham MCCU captain Joe Cooke - one of three bowlers used - had bowled the only maiden. It was after McGrath switched ends that the first breakthrough finally came, Dent edging to 'keeper Jahanfar for 84 out of a stand of 128, made at better than a run a ball with 16 boundaries.

Having seen his opening pair in relatively little trouble, Gareth Roderick will have been disappointed to not stay longer than three balls, the Gloucestershire skipper being bowled by left armer McGrath before he had settled. Graeme van Buuren then kept Tavare company until lunch, with the patient right hander following up a half century in the friendly against Somerset with another one here, completed in the penultimate over of the session from 107 deliveries with seven fours.

Left arm spinner Abhi Singh had bowled only one over in the morning session but his introduction after the interval, with Gloucestershire 156-2, checked the Gloucestershire scoring as Durham MCCU captain Cooke rotated his seam bowlers at the Ashley Down Road End.

Tavare and van Buuren were watchful, and in the hour's play possible before a heavy shower forced the players off they added 31 with van Buuren bringing up the fifty partnership with a drive punched through the covers off Singh.

The rain delayed matters until 5 o'clock, leaving a further 90 minutes play when Gloucestershire resumed at 198-2, and only two runs had been added when van Buuren edged McGrath to Cooke at second slip for 35 to give the left arm seamer his third wicket.

The remainder of the day surrounded Tavare's pursuit of his century. He collected two boundaries off Xavier Owen and also attacked spinner Singh, twice finding the rope at wide long on and also having the confidence in the nineties to play a reserve sweep. With George Hankins gradually getting into his stride at the other end, the pair were able to add 92 runs before stumps were drawn with Gloucestershire 292-3.