Mad Half Hour Cost Us - Bracewell
17 July 2014
John Bracewell felt a crucial period just before lunch on the final day held the key to Gloucestershire's six-wicket LV=County Championship defeat by Derbyshire at the Brewin Dolphin Cheltenham Festival.
The visitors reached a target of 204 to win with time and wickets to spare as experienced West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul contributed an unbeaten 52 and Billy Godleman 54.
But Gloucestershire director of cricket felt his side had sacrificed a hard-earned advantage by losing their last four second innings wickets for 23 runs.
John told this website: "We had a mad half hour before lunch and in the end that has proved the difference. If we had set Derbyshire 240 it would have been a great match.
"There were other important times in the game and if you lose key ones it is always going to be difficult. We had some excellent individual performances, but need to be more consistent as a team."
Hamish Marshall was last man out for 71 in Gloucestershire's second innings as Derbyshire spinners David Wainwright and Wes Durston mopped up the tail from a promising 196-6.
The visitors still had to bat well to reach their target and at the end of the game both teams paid tribute to the groundstaff for producing an excellent cricket wicket.
John Bracewell said: "It was a pitch that offered something for the bowlers, while also rewarding good batting. For two of our players (Will Tavare and Will Gidman) to score centuries on it was a great effort.
"It was also good for our two spinners to bowl in tandem on a helpful track on the last day because that is the type of wicket we will probably be playing on inour remaining games.
"The pitch was superb for a four-day game. Both sides batted well on it and I thought Derbyshire's seamers Tony Palladino and young Tom Taylor hit a great channel to put our batsmen under pressure."
John was able to offer some good news on young seam bowler Craig Miles, who has not played any first team cricket this season because of a back problem and was expected to miss the entire Cheltenham Festival.
He said: "Craig has made some good progress, bowled well in the second XI, and could come into contention for the Championship game against Worcestershire, starting on Monday.
"We haven't had full clearance on him from the medical team, but he is not far away."
For more details on the final day against Derbyshire click on Cricket and then Match Reports.
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