Northants end Gloucestershire's unbeaten run
17 August 2015
Steven Crook took four wickets to keep Northamptonshire in the race for a Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final after a four-wicket win over previously unbeaten Gloucestershire at Wantage Road.
Crook was the pick of the bowlers with 4-37 while Olly Stone chipped in with 3-34 as Gloucestershire were restricted to 215 all out.
In response, Northants' opening pair put on 80 for the opening wicket, with Josh Cobb top-scoring with 58, and although they stuttered to 143 for five captain Alex Wakely 's unbeaten 31 sealed victory with nine overs to spare.
Gloucestershire, who have already sealed their passage, will have another go at securing a home quarter-final at home to Surrey.
Gloucestershire came into the encounter having won five of their six matches in the competition this year, with one no-result, but they slumped to 20 for three after opting to bat first.
After Rory Kleinveldt had bowled Chris Dent for a five-ball duck, Stone removed fellow opener Will Tavare and captain Geraint Jones in the space of three balls before Gareth Roderick and Benny Howell added a semblance of respectability to proceedings.
The pair added 89 for the fourth wicket but, when well set and Roderick past fifty in 67 balls, Howell sent his partner back looking for a sharp single and Roderick was run-out by Ben Duckett for 57.
Crook had Kieran Noema-Barnett and Jack Taylor both caught behind in successive overs and then ended a mini-resurgence of 49 between Howell and James Fuller by removing the latter for 31.
Crook had his fourth caught behind - his third four-wicket haul in List A cricket - when he got an edge off Craig Miles while Howell was last man out for 80 off 113 balls to leave Northants a paltry victory target.
An opening stand of 80 between Cobb and David Willey got the chase off to a solid start. Several moments of fortune, including Cobb being dropped by Dent at second slip on 16, aided their progress.
Howell made the breakthrough, trapping Willey in front for 41 although Cobb went to a second half-century in the competition from 68 balls.
But trying to find the shortest boundary on the ground in Miles Hammond’s first over, the opener picked out deep midwicket.
Cobb was the second wicket in a collapse of three for six. Before Cobb’s dismissal, there were two caught and bowled dismissals for off spinner Jack Taylor. First Ben Duckett and then Rob Keogh for a fourth-ball duck.
After 111 for one became 170 for six when Crook gifted Hammond a wicket, Wakely was on hand to steer his side home, a straight six off Dent the pick of his strokes in a unbeaten 31.
He and Kyle Coetzer - playing for the first time in the competition this season - added an unbroken 47 for the seventh wicket to settle any nerves.
"I had a bit of luck because it was my birthday,” Cobb said. “But we’ve made it hard in the last two games with the bat and we’ve spoke about taking the chance if we get another in what is effectively a final at Headingley.
"James Fuller’s opening spell was one of the best we’ve faced in a long time and to come through that was a great effort. But we’ve bowled really well. Olly Stone bowled with real pace and Steven Crook was excellent again - the bowlers did the hard work for us."
Gloucestershire coach Richard Dawson: "We didn’t start the game with a bang. We did well get our innings back but then another mistake cost us.
"It’s easy to see where we messed up. We weren’t at the races really. The first 10 overs with the ball we did well and could have taken couple of wickets but we didn’t nail the first half with the bat."
