Howell's honeymoon hundred sets up victory chance
17 July 2015
It's been quite a week in the life of Benny Howell. The all rounder got married on Monday, played a critical role in the T20 Blast win over Hampshire on Tuesday, and ended it with his maiden first class century against Leicestershire at the Cheltenham Festival.
Howell's previous best score was 83, made at Scarborough against Yorkshire in 2012, but this was a much more challenging situation. His stand with Kieran Noema-Barnett, who made his most telling contribution of the season with 61, was worth 139 in 35 overs and transformed Gloucestershire's second innings.
In the end, they were dismissed for 321, leaving Leicestershire a day and eight overs to chase 325 for victory. They will resume on the final day on 11 without loss.
Listen to Benny Howell's thoughts on a memorable day here :
All in all, stand in captain Michael Klinger will have been delighted with the efforts of his players. Without the services of the injured Ian Cockbain, Klinger himself - aided initially by Howell - laid the foundations for two of his all rounders to play a blossoming range of shots after two sessions of attritional batting. Credit also has to be given to the Leicestershire bowlers, whose heads never dropped despite a long day in the field.
The morning session maintained the pattern of the match, with every run cherished by the batting side. Gloucestershire managed to add only 61 to their overnight score for the loss of Gareth Roderick, who scored only eight runs in an hour before he feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Hill off McKay for 19.
Hill had earlier badly missed stand-in captain Michael Klinger off McKay when he had made 21, appearing to want to celebrate the catch before he truly gathered the ball. Klinger's partnership with Roderick was ultimately worth 57 - at that stage the highest of the match - and Klinger himself went on to make a patient and valuable 60 with eleven fours in just over three hours before Hill held onto a second chance off Shreck, who was to finish with five wickets.
This, however, was Benny Howell's day. Initially defiant in defence, he added 38 with Klinger but the former Hampshire all rounder had made only 20 with a solitary boundary from the first 100 balls he faced.
What followed was increasingly out of character with the rest of the match as Howell and new partner Noema-Barnett warmed to their task as the sun broke through over the College Ground.
Neither had made a fifty in first class cricket this season, so their cautious approach when they came together at 131-4, just 134 ahead, was understandable. Gradually though both played more positively, and shortly before the new ball was due Howell pulled off spinner Niak into the members stand for six.
The return of opening bowlers Raine and McKay didn't disrupt the flow of either batsman, and Howell reached his first fifty of the season off 156 balls with four fours and a six.
Noema-Barnett had also passed his best score of the season by tea, when he had reached 34 not out with a couple of particularly fine strokes, one a straight drive to long off, and the other through the covers. At that stage the stand was worth 71, and the lead, at 202-4, was 205.
The question of a possible declaration was discussed among the assembled press during the tea interval - but in the end it wasn't necessary as the game returned to a more normal Cheltenham pace in the final session.
Howell and Noema-Barnett went up another gear, adding 54 in only 6 overs, Howell by now punishing anything short off the back foot. Noema-Barnett's first Gloucestershire half century including half a dozen boundaries and a pull through mid wicket for six, and he'd made 61 he drove Shreck to Smith at extra cover.
It was then fitting that Jack Taylor, whose hundred had lit up the Northants win last week, was then at the crease with Howell as he reached three figures, going from 50 to his century sealing shot in only 46 deliveries with another eight boundaries. For Howell and another good College Ground crowd, it was a special moment.
The clatter of wickets that followed - starting with Howell, who was lbw to McKay for 102 - made little or no odds in the context of the match. Jack Taylor (11), Miles (9) and Norwell (5) all went cheaply, but what was more important was that it gave Gloucestershire eight overs to try and make a breakthrough ahead of the final day.
The nearest they came was in the last over, when Robson was nearly run out at the non strikers end by Craig Miles. He would have been if Miles' throw had hit the stumps. It didn't, and Leicestershire start the final day 11 without loss, needing 314 more runs for an unlikely win. That said, taking ten wickets on a slow pitch won't be easy either.
