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    Milestones galore push Glamorgan to the brink

    23 April 2018

    An unbeaten hundred from James Bracey and career best scores from three other batsmen took Gloucestershire tantalisingly close to a draw in their first home Championship match of the season against Glamorgan at the Brightside Ground.

    20 year old Bracey accumulated 120 not out in nearly seven and a half hours, and along with Ryan Higgins (61) and Dan Worrall (50) helped to get Gloucestershire to within five runs of erasing their first innings deficit.

    Matt Taylor (48) then added a further 77 with Bracey before he and Liam Norwell fell to catches at the wicket to leave Glamorgan to chase 83 to win in 21 overs.

    Apparently coasting at 51-0, four wickets then went down in quick succession before the visitors completed a six wicket victory with 8.1 overs to spare.

    Watch the thoughts of Richard Dawson and/or James Bracey at the close here :

    There's no doubt the day began with Gloucestershire needing to show discipline and application if the game was to be saved. They were 157 runs behind, five batsmen were already out and it was unclear whether Liam Norwell would bat at all.

    James Bracey and Ryan Higgins had trimmed the deficit with useful runs on the Sunday evening, and against attacking fields early on they continued to score briskly, Higgins reaching his first Championship fifty from 65 balls with seven fours.

    Bracey reached his own half century is more measured time with two leg glances off Glamorgan skipper Michael Hogan, but it was the same bowler who brought the visitors their first breakthrough as Higgins was given out lbw for 61.

    Gloucestershire had scored at a run a minute in the first hour so Glamorgan applied a little more caution with their field settings to hopefully keep something in reserve for the second new ball, which wasn't due until after lunch. Their bonus came in the form of another wicket, Kieran Noema-Barnett being bowled by Carey off a bottom edge with Gloucestershire still 85 runs in arrears as Dan Worrall walked to the wicket.

    Once again the Australian belied his modest career record, straight driving Carey for four and taking Gloucestershire past 100 runs on the day by working the same bowler through the covers 15 minutes before lunch. Bracey, who had started the day 34 not out, doubled his score in the morning session and Gloucestershire set out after the interval only 51 runs behind.

    Glamorgan's joker card was the second new ball, but the combination of Bracey's patience and Worrall's growing confidence saw runs continue to tick up, Worrall raising his best score with the bat for the second time in the match. Two boundaries off Michael Hogan saw him to a deserved fifty from 71 balls, only to then play onto his stumps off a big inside edge to Lukas Carey with Glamorgan's first innings lead virtually gone.

    Bracey and Worrall had added 80 for the eighth wicket, and when Bracey clipped Hogan for a single the visitors knew they would have to bat again to win. The question was whether they would get the opportunity, and for 23 overs Matt Taylor joined Bracey in holding them up, Bracey completing an old fashioned, top order century in more than six hours from 274 balls with 14 fours.

    Taylor's steer to third man in the first over after tea saw him past his previous best score against Kent last season, and he looked like the third batsman of the day to support Bracey with a half century until a feather edge to off spinner Salter was held by 'keeper Cooke.

    It had been a spirited effort to get to a lead of 72, and Liam Norwell - with Graeme van Buuren as his runner - delayed Glamorgan further until he too edged a catch to Cooke, this time off Hogan. It left Glamorgan needing 83 to win, and 21 overs to reach their target.

    The run chase, without fielding restrictions, saw skipper Dent soon have six men around the boundary. Selman and Murphy chalked off 51 of the runs required before a clatter of wickets fell as the light worsened, three of them to Taylor and one to Worrall, who bowled unchanged throughout. In the end it was Glamorgan's Aneurin Donald who top edged Worrall for six to win a match Gloucestershire had fought hard to save by six wickets.

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