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Gloucestershire fall to Middlesex at Radlett

11 August 2019

Gloucestershire fall to Middlesex as Dawid Malan’s unbeaten 91 steered the home side to a rare Vitality Blast victory over The Shire at Radlett CC.

After heavy rainfall brought an early end to the game, Middlesex were declared the victors by seven wickets handing Gloucestershire their third defeat of the competition.

Captain Michael Klinger won the toss and elected to bat first once again. He and Miles Hammond opened the batting as per usual with the latter starting just as he did against Surrey. He hit three fours and one six in the opening three overs to help The Shire to a positive start. Michael Klinger followed suit hitting another two boundaries as Gloucestershire were 42/0 after the first four overs.

The following two overs were bowled better by Middlesex, only five runs were given up off 12 balls. Klinger was then bowled by Toby Roland-Jones in the seventh over and his replacement Ian Cockbain was caught off Steven Finn for one in the eighth.

Hammond looked as though he might be the man to take Gloucestershire all the way deep into the innings but it wasn’t meant to be. He was caught by the boundary for 42, finishing with four fours and one six.

Gloucestershire went through a spell in which runs were proving hard to come by but then Bracey and Higgins managed a quick partnership of 35. Three of Gloucestershire’s wickets fell the ball after a boundary and that is how Higgins and Bracey went as they both tried to maximise the team’s score.

Jack Taylor and Graeme van Buuren added 22 runs each and some much-needed boundaries as Gloucestershire finished with a total of 168/8.

Sterling and Malan started very well for the hosts and by the time the powerplay was finished, Middlesex were up to 48 without loss.

Ryan Higgins was Gloucestershire’s tightest bowler in the first eight overs only giving up three runs. Chris Liddle then made the breakthrough in the ninth when Paul Stirling lofted a ball high and into the hands of Jack Taylor.

At the halfway point of their innings Middlesex were 76/1, not far ahead of Gloucestershire who were 75/3 at the same stage.

Dawid Malan pushed Middlesex on as he made a 33-ball half-century to help Middlesex reach 100 without losing any more wickets. Four boundaries in five balls from Malan meant a victory was slowly slipping away from Gloucestershire’s reach.

Chris Liddle was able to remove Steven Eskinazi for 12 for his second wicket of the day and David Payne took out World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan for 16 in the eighteenth over but then a colossal amount of rain brought an end to proceedings eleven balls short of a full game.

When the game came to an end, Middlesex were nine runs ahead on DLS.

Next up for Gloucestershire is a home game back at The Bristol County Ground on Tuesday when they take on Hampshire.

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