Craig's Maiden Fifty Avoids Follow-On
30 August 2013
Craig Miles hit his maiden first class half century as Gloucestershire avoided a likely follow-on in the LV=County Championship match with Essex at Bristol.
But when bad light ended the third day prematurely the visitors were still well on top, having built a lead of 431 before declaring their second innings.
Gloucestershire closed on 19 without loss and face a battle to save the game tomorrow.
The day began brightly for the hosts as Miles (50 not out) and Graeme McCarter (20) extended their last wicket partnership to 78 before McCarter was run out.
That took Gloucestershire beyond the follow-on figure, but they stilled trailed by 146 and a century from Gautam Gambhir helped Essex to 285-4 declared in their second innings.
Skipper Michael Klinger pledges a positive approach from his Gloucestershire team on the final day.
He told this website: “I think the weather forecast is pretty good for tomorrow so we'll do nothing different from what we normally do.
“Hopefully we'll have wickets in hand going into the last session and we'll see how we go, although we certainly won't be giving Essex an easy win by playing ridiculous cricket.
“If you have a good batting day here you can certainly score quickly and the wicket hasn't really changed much after the first day, when there was a bit more in it for the bowlers.
“Craig Miles and Graeme McCarter were excellent, although I'm not sure whether Essex would have enforced the follow-on because their bowlers had got few a lot of overs.
“Both of them got hit a couple of times but they showed some real guts and it was a fantastic effort.”
For more details of day three against Essex click on Cricket and then Match Reports.
