Defeat On Wet Night At Northampton
28 June 2013
Michael Klinger offered no excuses after Gloucestershire had suffered a 41-run defeat by Northamptonshire in a rain-shortened opening Friends Life t20 game at Northampton.
In a floodlit match reduced to 12 overs a side, Northants posted a challenging 124-4 before restricting the visitors to just 83-9.
It was not the start Gloucestershire wanted to their 20-over campaign, but skipper Klinger admitted they could have no complaints.
He said: “The conditions got tough for our bowlers, but we chose to field first and that’s the way it goes sometimes.
“T20 is all about entertainment so it was good to get a game in. When games in this competition are shortened by the weather they can change in the space of an over.
“We didn’t nail our yorkers and were not as clean with the bat as Northants.”
After winning the toss and electing to field, Gloucestershire found themselves having to contend with first a wet ball and then heavy rain.
Although Dan Christian removed Richard Levi in the second over, Kyle Coetzer (39), Cameron White (28) and Alex Wakely all scored quickly to ensure the home side of a decent total.
Gloucestershire’s reply got off to a bad start as the rain stopped and bowling conditions eased, with Hamish Marshall dismissed by David Willey’s second ball of the innings.
Only Klinger (27) and Christian (13) could make any impression and when they fell to successive balls from left-arm spinner Graeme White the outcome was almost settled.
White finished with 4-14 to claim the man-of-the-match award and from 54-3 Gloucestershire collapsed in the effort to produce the necessary big hits as the required run rate soared.
They will be looking for a big improvement when Worcestershire visit the County Ground, Bristol, on Sunday afternoon.
For more details of the Northants game click on Cricket and then Match Reports.
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