Dent In Charge When Rain Sets in At Chelmsford
8 August 2014
Chris Dent was unbeaten on 33 when Gloucestershire's innings was ended abruptly by rain at Chelmsford and the Royal London One-Day Cup match against Essex had to be abandoned.
The visitors had posted 55-1 from 11.1 overs before the weather intervened, Dent having faced 30 balls and hit 4 fours and a six, while Michael Klinger was 17 not out.
Both teams took one point, which left Gloucestershire on seven from five Group A games and in second place, one point behind leaders Yorkshire, who narrowly beat Leicestershire at Grace Road.
Prospects for a quarter-final place remain promising. The next group match is against Lancashire at Bristol on Tuesday.
Gloucestershire made one team change for the Essex game, Tom Smith coming in for Will Tavare.
Hamish Marshall opened with Klinger and fell in the first over, bowled by David Masters. But Dent then helped add 51 and his side looked well placed for a decent score when the rain came.
Umpires Martin Bodenham and Alex Wharf waited as long as possible to see if even a ten-over game could be played, with Leicestershire facing a revised target under the Duckworth-Lewis system.
But in the end conditions were too wet and the weather was the only winner.
Gloucestershire captain Klinger admitted that the prospect of an absorbing match had been ruined.
He said: "Both ourselves and Essex have been in good form in this competition, but once the rain started the outfield became very wet and the further rain didn't help matters.
"We've beaten some quality teams in this competition so far and, although we've only got the point from this match, we are certainly in the mix going into the last three games."
For more details of events at Chelmsford click on Cricket and then Match Reports.
