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Red Letter Day For Alex At Cheltenham

11 July 2013

Alex Gidman admitted it had been a 'very special' day for him after he scored the first double hundred of his long career in the Cheltenham Festival Division Two match against Kent.

Gidman surpassed his previous highest score of 176 on his way to 211 at the College Ground. Hamish Marshall also contributed 106 as Gloucestershire piled up 562-5 declared against Kent, who finished the second day on 165-2.

Gidman was delighted to have reached such a landmark on one of his favourite grounds and said the prospect pf scoring a double hundred had been in his thoughts when he started the day on 145.

He said: "Along with some of the Test grounds, Cheltenham is up there with my favourite places to play.To get a personal best and my first double hundred here is very special. I enjoyed it immensly.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say that overnight you start thinking about what might be possible. Then, more importantly, it's about concentrating on the processes to get you there.

"It was always in the back of my mind, but I had to kind of forget about it as much as possible and focus on what I needed to do to give myself the best chance of achieving it."

Gidman's double hundred was the first by a Gloucestershire player since Craig Spearman scored one against Warwickshire at Bristol in 2004.

Gidman added: "Craig was the last Gloucestershire player to score a double hundred and I remember watching it. It's been a while for the county and there's no denying we should have had a couple more in that time, so it was nice to start that ball rolling again."

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