Cockbain cracks Gloucestershire to third Vitality Blast win
13 July 2018
An excellent first week for Gloucestershire in the Vitality T20 Blast was sealed with a four wicket win over Somerset in a rain shortened game at the Brightside Ground.
In a match which was reduced to 11 overs a side by early evening rain, Somerset made 114-8 after being put into bat, Corey Anderson making 40 not out as the last two overs brought 31 runs. Andrew Tye, on his first appearance in the competition, took three wickets and Tom Smith two, both his wickets coming in the same over.
Facing a rate of more than ten runs an over, Gloucestershire lost openers Klinger and Hammond early but Ian Cockbain - who went on to hit the winning runs and finished 43 not out - recieved aggressive support from Kieran Noema-Barnett (25) and Jack Taylor (19) as Gloucestershire kept up the pressure on Kent and Sussex with a third successive win with five balls to spare.
Watch head coach Richard Dawson's reaction to the win here :
MATCH REACTION : Head coach Richard Dawson reflects on tonight's 4 wicket @VitalityBlast win over @SomersetCCC pic.twitter.com/wwm5WRm5Ue
— Gloucestershire CCC (@Gloscricket) July 13, 2018
The availability of Andrew Tye meant Matt Taylor was the player to drop out from the side that beat Kent on Wednesday, and Michael Klinger had no hesitation in asking Somerset to bat when he won the toss.
Under the circumstances it was not surprising that Klinger used six different bowlers in the first six overs, and in the powerplay Tye was the one successful bowler, Davies being brilliantly caught one handed at extra cover by Miles Hammond.
The match appeared to shift significantly towards Gloucestershire when three wickets fell in five balls, Ian Cockbain starting the sequence with a direct hit which ran out Myburgh at the bowlers end. In the over that followed Klinger took a steepling catch off Tom Smith to send back Hildreth, and then Trego was bowled after the batsmen crossed. Gregory avoided the hat-trick although at 38-4 Somerset desperately needed a spine to their innings, and it came in the form of left hander Corey Anderson.
The New Zealander attacked Smith, paddle sweeping a boundary and clipping a six over deep square leg. A straight six from Gregory contributed to 19 runs from the over, and Anderson added two more in the penultimate one, bowled by Ryan Higgins. Either side of it, Andrew Tye removed Abell and van der Merwe, but Somerset's 114-8 kept both teams in the game at half distance.
Gloucestershire would have looked to the experience of Michael Klinger as a guiding light in their pursuit of victory, but the skipper was out in the first over, caught behind after hitting Craig Overton's third ball for six towards the apartments.
Miles Hammond also went quickly to Waller's leg spin, and with the scores level at the end of the powerplay Gloucestershire's tempo was raised by Cockbain and Noema-Barnett, the latter promoted to number four. Noema-Barnett's flat six to mid wicket off van der Merwe was matched by Cockbain's effort off Gregory, and although the pair had been split by then Peter Trego's seventh over was the first of two which eased Gloucestershire to victory.
19 runs came from it, Cockbain going over extra cover for six and down the ground for four before Higgins deposited a full toss over long on.
Two overs later Jack Taylor, who replaced the departed Higgins, registered two maximums off Jamie Overton and scooped a boundary in between for good measure. He was out in the same over but the damage had been done and it was fitting that Cockbain, who made the highest score of the match, worked the winning boundary off his legs to send Gloucestershire to the Cheltenham Festival in an encouraging position in the South Group.
