Match Reports

Gloucestershire v Leicestershire | LV= Insurance County Championship

DAY ONE

Only 36 overs were possible on the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship game between Gloucestershire and Leicestershire at Bristol.

While there was plenty of action at other venues around the country, heavily overcast skies greeted the players when they arrived at the Seat Unique Stadium and there was always the threat of a downpour until a curtailed final session.

Rain caused two long stoppages after Gloucestershire had won the toss and elected to bat. By the close of a frustrating day, they had posted 108 for three, Ollie Price unbeaten on 26.

Openers Chris Dent and Ben Charlesworth failed to cash in on positive starts as Chris Wright, Tom Scriven and Callum Parkinson picked up wickets late on.

What little play was possible before lunch saw 11.2 overs bowled and the home side progress with few alarms to 38 without loss.

Dent took a heavy toll on Leicestershire’s teenaged left-arm seamer Josh Hull, who was withdrawn from the attack having bowled the opening two overs from the Pavilion End at a cost of 22 runs.

Five times Dent rocked onto the back foot to dispatch short-of-a-length deliveries from Hull through the off side for boundaries.

Wright bowled a much tighter line and length from the Ashley Down Road End, but lacked penetration on a typically docile Bristol pitch.

Scriven was introduced for the fifth over of the game. He also made the batsmen work for their runs, but Charlesworth, who has been in good form in the Championship and Vitality Blast, confidently helped Dent launch the Gloucestershire innings.

At 36 for no wicket, Leicestershire introduced spin in the shape of left-armer Parkinson, but he had sent down only two deliveries for two runs when rain forced the first stoppage at 12.45pm.

Lunch was taken at the normal time and after two inspections umpires Paul Baldwin and Graham Lloyd decided play could restart at 2.45pm.

With his score on 25, Dent edged Wright just short of Colin Ackermann at second slip. It was the nearest Leicestershire had come to a wicket and seven had been added to the total when the rain returned with Gloucestershire 45 without loss off 14.4 overs.

Tea was taken at 3.10pm. Light rain persisted and by the time the covers were removed for a further inspection, the umpires ordered a 5.15pm resumption with 21.2 overs to be bowled.

They were delivered in the brightest conditions of the day. Charlesworth brought up the fifty with a four through the leg side off Hull before Wright made a much-needed breakthrough.

A ball that nipped back off the seam trapped Dent, on 29, in front of his stumps without getting forward and earned a merited lbw verdict with the total on 55.

Parkinson turned one past the outside edge of Ollie Price’s bat before Leicestershire struck again, Charlesworth offering a catch to Hull at square leg, playing a ball from Scriven off his hip, and departing for 21.

Leicestershire could reflect that, Hull’s early profligacy with the new ball apart, they had given little away. It was 83 for three when left-hander Miles Hammond fell for a duck, driving at a wide ball from Parkinson that turned and hit his off stump.

With the light closing in, Leicestershire opted for spin at both ends, Rehan Ahmed sending down some leg-breaks from the Ashley Down Road End, in tandem with Parkinson.

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DAY TWO

Ollie Price celebrated his 22nd birthday with a career-best first-class score as Gloucestershire fought back strongly on the second day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match with Leicestershire at Bristol.

Struggling at 118 for five early in the morning session, the hosts battled hard to post a first innings total of 368, Price contributing 85 off 172 balls, with 12 fours.

The was also a career-best 52 from Ajeet Singh Dale, sharing a ninth-wicket stand of 111 with Danny Lamb, who marked his Championship debut for Gloucestershire with a battling 70, including 3 sixes.

By the close, Leicestershire had responded with 23 for no wicket from five overs.

Gloucestershire began a day twice interrupted by showers on 108 for three, with Price on 26. They lost skipper Graeme van Buuren to the first ball of the morning as he edged good length ball from Chris Wright to wicketkeeper Peter Handscombe.

With only ten runs added, James Bracey was pinned lbw on the back foot by the accurate Wright, who was the pick of the Leicestershire attack with three for 40 from 23 overs.

Price edged Josh Hull just short of first slip before bringing up his half-century off 91 deliveries, with 9 fours. On 55, he was dropped at slip by Colin Ackermann off Callum Parkinson.

By then Ollie had been joined by elder brother Tom, who contributed 20 to a sixth-wicket stand of 46 before edging a back-foot shot off Tom Scriven to slip where Ackermann pouched the chance.

An Ollie Price boundary to third man off Scriven took him past his previous best first class score of 68, made against Yorkshire at Headingley last season.

Tom hit his maiden first class century versus Worcestershire at New Road in April and Ollie looked set to follow his sibling to the milestone when reaching lunch on 83, with Zafar Gohar having helped take the score to 208 for six.

But after adding only two in the afternoon session, Price feathered an attempted pull shot off left-arm seamer Hull through to Handscombe to make it 217 for seven.

Gloucestershire looked in danger of failing to claim a batting point five runs later when Gohar, who had played and missed at a couple of short balls from Hull, miscued a third and was caught at backward point for 28.

It was just reward for the tall 18-year-old pace bowler, who had proved expensive on day one, but used his height to good effect in getting extra bounce from a docile pitch.

Five overs were lost when rain began falling at 2.40pm and, with thunder rolling around the ground, the players headed for the pavilion.

By then Lamb and Singh Dale had added 19 and the restart saw Lancashire loanee Lamb go on the attack, pulling a six off Hull over fine leg to earn a first batting point at 254 for eight

The 27-year-old all-rounder had not played a first-class match since June last year and clearly relished the opportunity offered by a temporary change of county.

Another six followed, straight down the ground off leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed before a third maximum off Parkinson brought up Lamb’s half-century off 82 balls.

Singh Dale lost little by comparison as the partnership flourished, despite Leicestershire having taken the second new ball. A straight driven four off Scriven took the Berkshire-born seam bowler past his previous best first class score of 36 not out.

When tea was taken at 316 for eight, Lamb and Singh Dale had added 94 to transform Gloucestershire fortunes. A second shower delayed the restart until 5.20pm, with a further 15 overs lost and 19 to be bowled.

On the resumption, a Lamb single off Hull brought up the century stand, which had occupied 24 overs. A defiant innings ended when he pulled a short ball from Hull (three for 109) and was caught at fine leg, having faced 106 balls.

At the end of the 110th over, the scoreboard read 352 for nine, both sides claiming three bonus points. Singh Dale brought up his maiden first class fifty with two through the off side off Ahmed, having faced 90 balls and hit 6 fours, before being last man out, stumped off Parkinson.

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DAY THREE

Lewis Hill maintained concentration in energy-sapping heat to score his seventh first class century as Leicestershire battled for first innings parity on the third day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match with Gloucestershire at Bristol.

The visiting skipper’s 103 occupied nearly five and a half hours and led his side to a total of 350 in reply to 368. Rishi Patel cracked 59 off 70 balls, while Louis Kimber contributed 34 before being given out for obstructing the field.

Seamer Zaman Akhter was the most successful Gloucestershire bowler with four for 33 from 17 overs in only his third first class match. By the close, the hosts had made nine without loss in their second innings and a draw looks by far the most likely outcome tomorrow.

A sweltering day began with Leicestershire 23 without loss. Openers Patel and Sol Budinger set about the task of reducing the deficit of 345 in positive manner.

Gloucestershire go into the final day of the game with a lead of 27 runs.

Patel looked in prime form, timing the ball sweetly and pulling a six off Tom Price as the pair brought up fifty in the seventh over of the morning.

They looked set to build a significantly larger stand when, with the total 66, Budinger, on 21, aimed an ugly cross-batted swing at a wide delivery from Akhter and edged to wicketkeeper James Bracey.

Patel struck fours off successive deliveries from Danny Lamb to reach an impressive 56-ball half-century and followed up with a straight six off Zafar Gohar’s first over, the 19th of the innings.

It was a surprise when Patel fell in the following over, edging a defensive shot off Akhter to second slip with the score on 85. A watchful Hill took 24 balls to get off the mark, before sweeping 2 fours off Gohar.

Akhter’s initial five-over spell from the Ashley Down Road End finished with figures of two for five, reward for the 24-year-old generating sustained pace and bounce.

At lunch, the scoreboard read 132 for two off 37 overs, with Hill unbeaten on 34. The afternoon session was interrupted at just after 2.15pm by a fire alarm, triggered by the effects of the high temperatures, which resulted in the pavilion being evacuated.

Among those required to leave the building were the scorers, so play was held up. But after a ten-minute delay, normal service was resumed.

Colin Ackermann contributed 21 to a stand of 66 with Hill before cutting at a wide delivery from Akhter and edging to Ben Charlesworth at first slip.

Two runs off Tom Price took Hill to a half-century off 108 balls, with 6 fours, out of a total of 182 for three. Slowly but surely, Leicestershire moved to within striking distance of their opponents’ first innings total.

They lost former Gloucestershire player Peter Handscombe for 25 with the score on 193 when off-spinner Ollie Price squeezed a delivery through his back-foot defence to clip off stump.

But by tea Kimble had helped the indefatigable Hill add 40 for the fifth wicket and their team looked comfortably placed at 233 for four.

The pair took the score to 258 before Kimber, on 34, departed in unusual fashion, given out after playing a delivery from off-spinner Ollie Price defensively into the ground, up onto his shoulder and then flicking the ball away with a hand.

Price immediately appealed for obstruction and umpires Graham Lloyd and Paul Baldwin consulted before quickly sending Kimber on his way.

Hill had an anxious moment on 83 when he played a delivery from Tom Price with the second new ball to gully and was called for a suicidal single by Rehan Ahmed, but Miles Hammond’s throw to the bowler’s end lacked the necessary accuracy to run him out.

It was all the assistance Hill required to move to three figures off 205 balls, with 12 fours. But Akhter wasn’t finished and produced a brute of a short ball, which Ahmed, having breezed to 28 off 32 balls, could only fend to second slip.

Hill’s long vigil ended when he gave a return catch to Ollie Price and Gohar quickly sent back Chris Wright and Callum Parkinson. But Tom Scriven’s 30 before falling lbw to Ollie Price (three for 40) ensured a third batting point for Leicestershire.

Gloucestershire go into the final day of the match with a lead of 27 runs and 10 wickets remaining.

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DAY FOUR

Chris Wright and Callum Parkinson shared eight second innings victims as Leicestershire completed an unlikely five-wicket LV= Insurance County Championship victory over Gloucestershire at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.

The home side looked on course for at least a draw when reaching 132 for two to build on a first innings lead of 18. But seamer Wright (four for 49) and left-arm spinner Parkinson (four for 63) then brought about a collapse that saw Gloucestershire crash to 202 all out.

That left Leicestershire needing 221 to win in a minimum of 47 overs. They needed only 41.2, 18-year-old England Test all-rounder Rehan Ahmed leading the way with a rapid 71 and Colin Ackermann making 78 not out in a total of 221 for five.

The visitors took 22 points from their second Championship win of the season, while their opponents, still seeking first success after being relegated from Division One last season, had to settle for six.

Gloucestershire began the day at nine without loss in their second innings, leading by 27. With only 14 added, Ben Charlesworth got a delivery that turned and bounced from Parkinson, which he edged to Ackermann at slip.

It was 47 for two when Chris Dent, on 21, fell lbw to a leg-stump yorker from Josh Hull. But Hammond survived a tough leg-side stumping chance off Parkinson before he had scored and grew in confidence to such an extent that it seemed he might even help his side set a challenging target.

A straight six off Tom Scriven was followed by a four in the same over to bring up the hundred, while at the other end Ollie Price was also looking in decent nick.

The turning point in the innings came with the total on 132 when Ackermann’s off-spin, introduced from the Ashley Down Road End, accounted for Hammond, bowled to end an entertaining 53-ball knock.

It was 136 for three at lunch, with Price unbeaten on 39 and Gloucestershire 154 in front. That became 144 for four when Price was caught at backward square sweeping a delivery from Parkinson, having hit 6 fours in his 96-ball innings.

James Bracey’s disappointing season with the bat continued when he was caught behind off Parkinson, also attempting a sweep, and when Graeme van Buuren, on 13, cut Wright in the air to backward point Gloucestershire were 162 for six.

Eight runs later Zafar Gohar edged a drive off Wright to wicketkeeper Peter Handscombe and the accurate seamer quickly followed up by bowling Danny Lamb for a duck with a beauty that pitch on middle stump and hit off.

Ajeet Singh Dale contributed only a single before being caught at cover off Wright and Tom Price’s useful innings of 28 ended when he lofted a catch to long-on off Parkinson.

Gloucestershire’s last eight wickets had fallen for 70 in less than 19 overs. While the pitch was offering turn and occasional seam movement, it was a sorry effort.

Leicestershire openers Rishi Patel and Sol Budinger were soon putting the state of the wicket in perspective with a flurry of attacking shots.

As in the first innings, Patel looked in great touch, striking 2 fours in the third over, sent down by Gohar. By tea, he and Budinger had raced the score to 49 from eight overs and Leicestershire required a further 172 runs from 39 overs.

When Patel fell quickly for 24 in the final session, pulling a catch to deep square off Akhter, his place was taken by Ahmed, promoted from the middle order to number three.

Budinger fell in similar fashion, caught at fine leg, top-edging a pull off Akhter. But Ahmed struck Gohar for a straight six to take the score past 100, having found a solid partner in the experienced Ackermann, who pulled a sweet four off Tom Price to bring up a half-century stand.

Ahmed moved to a fluent fifty off 61 balls, with 8 fours and a six, and Ackermann followed to the same milestone off 56 deliveries, with 8 fours, as the pair eliminated any doubts about the outcome.

Their exhilarating partnership had been extended to 141 when Ahmed skyed a catch off Lamb with only 24 needed. Handscombe and Louis Kimber fell cheaply, but the Leicstershire dressing room was already celebrating.