Players shake hands as Gloucestershire and Leicestershire draw
20 June 2019
Gloucestershire take 12 points from their contest with Leicestershire after four days of splendid batting from both sides ended in a draw.
The start of the day had seen Ryan Higgins, having resumed on a first-class career best 196, bowled by Chris Wright for 199, the ball moving back in to beat the right-hander’s forward defensive to hit off-stump.
Graeme Van Buuren also went bowled by an in-swinger, in his case delivered by Dieter Klein, and the South African left-arm seamer also picked up the last two wickets of the Gloucestershire first innings, trapping Josh Shaw in front before bowling Chad Sayers.
Gloucestershire had compiled a mammoth 571 in their first innings, but Leicestershire openers Horton and Azad went through the afternoon and evening sessions without being parted, both scoring unbeaten centuries before the players shook hands at ten to five.
Head Coach Richard Dawson said
"We'd hoped to get a bit of a lead and then see if the scoreboard pressure might help us get them on the back foot a bit but it didn't work out that way. Ryan was obviously disappointed, but it was back to back hundreds for him and the third of the season so hopefully he'll keep doing what he's doing. it was a great effort and he's been outstanding since he came to us.
There's still plenty of cricket to be played this season, and if we keep playing hard and getting ourselves into good positions in games we can hopefully start converting some of the good draws into wins."
It was the second century of the match for Azad, who became the first Leicestershire player to achieve the feat since Ned Eckersley against Derbyshire in 2013.
The visitors needed early wickets to put their opponents under pressure in their second innings, but the writing was on the wall when they were unable to part Azad and Horton in the nine overs available to them before lunch.
Gloucestershire remain one of the three unbeaten teams in Division Two of the Specsavers County Championship. They now sit in fifth in the standings with a game in hand on three of the four teams ahead of them.
