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    County Championship - 29 August 2018

    Gloucestershire beat Leicestershire by 328 runs

    Venue: Brightside Ground, Bristol

    Gloucestershire v Leicestershire

    Day 4

    17 year old Ben Charlesworth ended Leicestershire's resistance at the Brightside Ground to close out Gloucestershire's first Championship win of the season in Bristol shortly before lunch on the final day.

    The teenager had bowled just three overs in the defeat at Edgbaston last week, and here he took a wicket with his first delivery at Mohammad Abbas backed away and got an outside edge to 'keeper Roderick playing an ugly slog down the ground.

     

    Gloucestershire began the day needing four wickets for victory, and after overnight pair Mark rove and Callum Parkinson were split, the game was over inside an hour with Gloucestershire wrapping up victory by 328 runs. The result lifts them to sixth in the Division 2 table.

    Watch head coach Richard Dawson's post match thoughts here:

     

    The groundwork for this victory had been laid over the previous two days, with Gloucestershire's position looking stronger with every session. 

    Having set Leicestershire 494 to win, the bowlers had taken six of the wickets they needed on Friday afternoon and Mark Cosgrove represented the only front line batsman left in Leicestershire's locker. How long play lasted looked to hinge on his dismissal.

    Craig Miles and David Payne both bowled throughout the first hour but without success despite one or two deliveries keeping low from the Pavilion end. Cosgrove, who began the day 42 not out, reached his half century with a mistimed hook off Payne as Leicestershire added 24 runs before a double bowling change triggered an acceleration of events.

    Matt Taylor trapped Callum Parkinson lbw for 17 and Ryan Higgins, who had taken 4-26 in the first innings, then removed the largest obstacle to any thoughts of Leicestershire batting beyond lunch as Cosgrove flicked at a ball going down the leg side and was caught behind.

    The victory might have been tied up even earlier had Chris Dent held onto an edge by Klein off Taylor at second slip, but it mattered little as Higgins finished with another four wicket haul thanks to James Bracey's excellent one handed catch which accounted for Griffiths.

    It was then left to Charlesworth, who still has a year to go at St Edward's School in Oxford, to bowl a ball he'll remember for a very long time.

     

    Day 3

    Only once previously in his career has Chris Dent made a Championship double hundred. It was in the last match of the 2015 season, when his 268 against Glamorgan smashed his previous best score.

    Nearly three years on, another unbeaten double century - this time 214* - enabled him, now as Gloucestershire captain, to set Leicestershire a mammoth victory target of 494 in sunny conditions at the Brightside Ground.

    Starting the day on 152-1, Dent and James Bracey (43) slowly increased the run rate until Bracey was caught behind by Eckersley off Dexter, but the real gear change came after lunch. Leicestershire declined the chance to take the second new ball, and against the old one Dent and Benny Howell took 116 runs off Klein and Parkinson in 17 overs, Dent going from 100-200 in only 83 balls, fewer than half the number he took to reach his hundred. 

    Howell's dismissal for 56, and that of Jack Taylor two balls later, prompted Dent to walk off having converted his fourth score above fifty of the season into a match changing one.

    It left Leicestershire nine overs plus four sessions to make 494 to win, but Dearden and Ackermann departed before tea and four more wickets fell in the final session as Leicestershire closed on 117-6.

    Watch Chris Dent's thoughts on his innings and the match position here:

     

    Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson frequently talks about playing time in four day cricket, and here his team demonstrated beautifully how to methodically build an impregnable position.

    With a lead of 243 at the start of play there was no pressure from the clock, and it allowed skipper Chris Dent and James Bracey to play carefully in the first hour knowing that Leicestershire wouldn't have a second new ball available until after lunch.

    They added 39 runs in that time with little to encourage the bowlers, Bracey playing almost the only false stroke as a leading edge dropped short of Griffiths in his follow through.

    The catalyst for the acceleration that followed appeared to be three boundaries in four balls off Ben Raine, two of them to Dent, who then steered spinner Parkinson to deep cover to bring up the hundred partnership. It had been increasingly serene progress, only for Bracey to miss out on a second fifty in the match when pushing at Dexter and 'keeper Eckersley doing the rest.

    His dismissal for 43 came with Dent short of his century, but a cleanly struck straight six off Parkinson ended the skipper's wait for a hundred, reaching three figures off 198 balls with 15 fours. Third wicket partner Benny Howell also sent Parkinson over the boundary before lunch, and a sample of opinon at the interval suggested a lead of 450 might be enough to prompt a declaration.

    What those supporters hadn't banked on was Gloucestershire's scoring rate during the afternoon session. Leicestershire skipper Paul Horton opted not to take the new ball, instead giving left arm spinner Parkinson an extended spell at one end and introducing the bustling Dieter Klein at the other. It was a combination much to the liking of Dent and Howell, who capitalised on Klein's inacurracy in both length and line to pummel 67 runs off the South African from the Pavilion end.

    Their century stand - the third of the innings - took only 20 overs, Howell completing his third fifty of the season from 79 balls with his seventh boundary, and doing much as he pleased Dent went past the 165 he made against Leicestershire two seasons ago to complete a memorable double hundred with 24 fours and two sixes. 

    The partnership had been worth 183 at almost a run a ball when Howell was lbw for 56, trying to work Ackermann to fine leg. Jack Taylor's dismissal two balls later prompted Dent to decide a target of 494 was sufficient with a day and 41 overs to bowl Leicestershire out, Gloucestershire having passed 400 in the Championship for the first time this season.

    Leicestershire had nine overs to negotiate until tea, but even in that short spell they lost opener Dearden - smartly caught by Roderick diving in front of first slip off Miles - and Ackermann, who floated Payne gently to Higgins at mid off. 

    Any thought of a realistic run chase started to ebb away once Miles trapped Paul Horton in his crease in the first over after tea, and Ryan Higgins even provoked thoughts of a possible three day win with the swift dismissal of Dexter, caught at slip, and Eckersley, whose departure to the tenth lbw decision of the match left Leicestershire teetering at 52-5.

    Left handers Mark Cosgrove and Ben Raine almost saw them to stumps with some late resistance, but having added 60 runs Gloucestershire had the bonus of seeing Raine drive airily at Miles and find the safe hands of Matt Taylor in the penultmate over.  A rich day for Gloucestershire had the cherry on the cake,  and it left them needing only four wickets on the final day to seal a first Brightside Ground victory since they beat the same opponents last season.

     

    Day 2

    An innings of 68 in 99 balls by Miles Hammond made a mockery of Leicestershire's earlier troubles with the bat as Gloucestershire tightened their grip on this Championship match with two days now remaining at the Brightside Ground.

    Together with skipper Chris Dent, Hammond added 107 for the first wicket after the  collective effort of Gloucestershire's four man attack delivered the tightest performance at the Brightside Ground this season to earn a first innings lead of 91.

    Only against Kent at Canterbury in April had Gloucestershire dismissed a team for a lower score, and Leicestershire's plight would have been worse had night watchman Gavin Griffiths not made an unbeaten 36 in more than three and a half hours.

    Ryan Higgins took his tally of Championship wickets to 35 with figures of 4-26, with Craig Miles, David Payne and Matt Taylor taking two wickets each as Leicestershire mustered only 111.

    47 overs remained in the day when Gloucestershire went out to bat after tea, and after Hammond and Dent's century partnership James Bracey helped his captain add a further 45 runs before the close, when Gloucestershire had reached 152-1 in their second innings, giving them a healthy overall lead of 243.

    Watch all rounder Ryan Higgins' thoughts on the day here:

     

    With a modest first innings score to defend, David Payne and Craig Miles were given the responsibility of chasing early wickets. Gavin Griffiths had made 20* and 16* in Leicestershire's last Championship game against Kent, and his concentration alongside skipper Paul Horton enabled the overnight pair to add 37 in just under an hour before the introduction of Ryan Higgins drew an edge from the Leicestershire skipper and Gareth Roderick took the first of three catches.

    Thereafter the innings was processional around Griffiths, who whilst not scoring freely put a high price on his wicket, twice continuing after taking painful blows on his right hand from Matt Taylor and David Payne. 

    He lost two further partners before lunch, Ackermann seeing his off stump knocked back by a delivery from Higgins that swung late and Craig Miles bowling Cosgrove with a ball close to yorker length.

    All three wickets in the morning session had been taken from the Ashley Down Road end, and with limited rotation of the strike Leicestershire had added only 67 in 29 overs, Griffiths facing 86 balls for his 24 runs and whilst he held up one end, Gloucestershire gradually worked their way through the rest of the Leicestershire batting.

    Three overs after the resumption Roderick snapped up a two handed catch off Miles to send back Dexter, and it wasn't long before he took an easier one as Eckersley got tucked up by a delivery from Payne, who took the first wicket of the day from the Pavilion end. 

    Craig Miles' spell either side of lunch had the impressive figures of 8-5-10-2, and with a quartet of front line bowlers to rotate skipper Chris Dent was able to maintain the pressure on Leicestershire's lower order, Matt Taylor and Ryan Higgins mopping up the last four wickets for only six runs whllst Griffiths looked on. There hadn't been much substance to the batting around him, and with tea taken early when Leicestershire were all out for 111, Gloucestershire still had 47 overs in the day to build on their first innings lead.

    Initially there was little change in the pattern of the game, with Mohammad Abbas and Ben Raine making Dent and Hammond work for a meagre 19 runs from their opening burst, but with Griffiths used sparingly, Paul Horton turned to Dieter Klein and Neil Dexter only for their direction and control to be lacking as the Gloucestershire openers picked off a succession of boundaries, particularly through the covers.

    Hammond's half century, from 76 balls, contained a six over the wicket keeper as well as seven fours, and he'd made 68 out of a stand of 107 in 31 overs when he pushed at a Dexter delivery and found Ackermann at second slip.

    Dent, circumspect by comparison, compiled his fourth Championship fifty of the summer from 107 balls with nine boundaries, and took the lead past 200 by working Dexter off the back foot past point.

    Bracey kept his captain company for almost an hour until stumps, when the lead had advanced to 243, leaving  Gloucestershire holding all the tactical cards as they try to force a third win of the season in Divison 2 from a dominant position.

     

    Day 1

    A determined innings of 76 from James Bracey - who added exactly 100 runs for the fourth wicket with Gareth Roderick (41) - couldn't stop Leicestershire bowling Gloucestershire out for 202 as Championship cricket returned to the Brightside Ground for the first time since June.

    Bracey came to the crease when Gavin Griffiths broke an opening stand of 50 between Chris Dent and Miles Hammond, and only departed more than three hours later amongst a sequence of five successive wickets to lbw decisions, three of them - including Bracey's - falling to the second new ball.

    The last six Gloucestershire wickets fell for 11 runs as they went from 191-4 to 202 all out, Mohammad Abbas finishing with 5-30. Leicestershire were left with six overs to bat until stumps, long enough for David Payne to send back Harry Dearden thanks to Miles Hammond's smart catch in the slips. At the close, they were 11-1.

    Watch James Bracey's thoughts on the day here :

     

    Gloucestershire made two changes to the side beaten by Warwickshire last week, with Jack Taylor's inclusion giving the side an extra batsman. David Payne also returned, with Chris Liddle and George Drissell making way.

    The morning's play was a quiet affair aside from a spell of 17 deliveries during which three wickets went down. Mohammad Abbas and Ben Raine were disciplined with the new ball, both operating extensively and economically from around the wicket, and it wasn't until Leicestershire captain Paul Horton introduced Dieter Klein that Chris Dent doubled the number of boundaries in the first hour within one over, twice pulling the South African to mid wicket. 

    A cut past point from the Gloucestershre skipper brought up the fifty partnership for the first wicket with Miles Hammond in the 22nd over only for Griffiths to bowl him for 28 without further addition to the score, Dent seeing the ball shatter his stumps via an inside edge as he tried to withdraw his bat.

    Hammond (7) was then caught behind off a thin edge to Mohammad Abbas, and Benny Howell, having been struck on the body off a bottom edge, departed without scoring as Colin Ackermann took a good low catch at second slip. 50-0 had become 50-3, so Bracey and Roderick knew there was some re-balancing to do on the scorecard once they had negotiated the period up until lunch.

    Understandably perhaps, the pace of scoring remained measured after the resumption although Bracey's cover drive was his most lucrative and pleasing stroke, Raine being despatched to the fence on three occasions. 

    Roderick, meanwhile, rode some moments of fortune early on, an edge off Griffiths being spilled low down by Cosgrove at first slip, but he neatly worked the same bowler past point to bring up the fifty partnership in the 46th over. 89 runs were added in the afternoon session against seven different bowlers , and there was little indication of the clatter of wickets to follow once James Bracey reached his fifty in the first over after tea from 143 balls with seven boundaries.

    The century stand between the young left hander and wicket keeper Roderick was only broken when the wiry and persistently accurate Mohammad Abbas trapped Roderick lbw for 41. Jack Taylor, playing in his usual positive fashion, struck spinner Parkinson for a straight six towards the pavilion and Gloucestershire looked well placed at 191-4 ahead of the second new ball. It was then that the day turned once Leicestershire had the bonus of Colin Ackermann's occasional off breaks removing Taylor for 21.

    In 7.3 overs, Mohammad Abbas and Ben Raine took the last five Gloucestershire wickets, Ryan Higgins and Ben Charlesworth both being adjudged lbw to Raine before Bracey was hit on the knee roll of his front pad to become the fifth lbw in a row. Neither David Payne or Matt Taylor troubled the scorers, the latter's departure leaving Mohammad Abbas with 5-30 for his day's work and Gloucestershire with six overs to force a breakthough.

    David Payne secured it in the penultimate over as Dearden's edge was snapped up by Miles Hammond at first slip. Leicestershire closed at 11-1, 191 runs behind and with enough in the pitch for Gloucestershire's bowlers to believe they are still well in the game.