Norwell Takes Four Before Hampshire Fight back
7 July 2014
Liam Norwell claimed four wickets as Gloucestershire's bowlers enjoyed a successful opening day of the LV=County Championship match with Hampshire at Southampton.
Put in to bat when Alex Gidman won the toss following a rain delay, the home side collapsed from 144-2 to 182-9 before an unbroken last wicket stand of 69 between David Balcombe and James Tomlinson took them to 251-9 at the close.
It looked like being a better day for Hampshire when their first four batsmen, Michael Carberry (39), Jimmy Adams (43), Will Smith (45) and James Vince (25) all got starts.
But none of them was able to go on to a really significant score. Carberry and Adams fell to catches by wicketkeeper Adam Rouse off Benny Howell and Will Gidman respectively before Norwell got to work.
The young seamer sent back Smith, Vince, Adam Wheater and Danny Briggs and finished the day with 4-87 from 20 overs, while Tom Smith weighed in with the wickets of Sean Ervine and Joe Gatting for figures of 2-22 from 12 overs.
When Will Gidman had Kyle Abbott caught by Chris Dent, Gloucestershire were assured of maximum bowling points.
But the remainder of the day brought nothing but frustration as Balcombe (38 not out) and Tomlinson (33 not out) gave Hampshire an unlikely two batting points.
Gloucestershire will have a new ball available in the morning and it remains to be seen how competitive the Hampshire total proves to be.
For more details on day one at the Ageas Bowl click on Cricket and then Match Reports.
