Will Stars But Payne Injury Mars Day
20 April 2012
Will Gidman continued his good start to the season with a major contribution as Gloucestershire moved into a strong position on the second day of the LV County Championship match with Kent at Canterbury.
First the all-rounder top scored with 56 as the visitors boosted their first innings total from an overnight 131-6 to 255 all out, Ed Young finishing 55 not out and Paul Muchall contributing 23.
Then Will removed Rob Key (5), Ben Harmison (12) and Mike Powell (0), all to catches by wicketkeeper Richard Coughtrie, as Kent plunged to 55-5 in reply.
Brendan Nash also fell to a Coughtrie catch off Ian Saxelby for 12, while David Payne bowled opener Scott Newman for the same score before sustaining an injury to his side that forced him off after sending down 5.3 overs.
That marred Gloucestershire's day somewhat as early indications are that Payne will not bowl again in the match.
By the close the home side had struggled to 119-6 from 42 overs, Darren Stevens leading a partial recovery with 54 before being bowled by Young.
Geraint Jones was unbeaten on 11 and Kent trailed by 136 with only four wickets in hand. Gidman had figures of 3-23 from 10.3 overs.
At the end of play Gloucestershire skipper Alex Gidman told this website: "It was another excellent effort by the team with bat and ball today.
"The injury to David Payne was a blow. We will see how he is when he wakes up tomorrow, but the physio thinks it unlikely he will bowl again in the game.
"That could be a problem, but we have three other specialist seamers in the side and players like Hamish Marshall and Benny Howell who can bowl a few overs if necessary.
"Ed Young showed today how hard he worked in Australia during the winter. He and Will are genuine all-rounders, who can both make a huge contribution to our season.
"There is still a lot of work to do because Kent have some decent batsmen in their lower order, but we will do our best to get a meaningful first innings lead."
For more details of Day Two at Canterbury click on Cricket and then Match reports.
