REPORT: Howell leads the way to first T20 win
13 July 2017
Gloucestershire put their first victory on the board in this season's NatWest T20 Blast at the Cheltenham Festival as they beat Kent Spitfires by 6 wickets.
Michael Klinger decided to field first after winning the toss, and Benny Howell was the star performer with 4-29 as a strong all round display from the bowlers restricted Kent to 152-8 after a brisk start.
The Gloucestershire skipper made only 13 with the bat, but with Phil Mustard, Ian Cockbain and Cameron Bancroft all getting past 30 the response to a target of 153 was well paced and the scores were level when Jack Taylor edged the first ball of the last over to the fine leg boundary.
Listen to Benny Howell's reaction to the victory here:
After the tension of a last ball finish against Middlesex last Friday, this Gloucestershire performance ticked a lot of boxes and ensured there were no late alarms in chasing a modest Kent score.
Head coach Richard Dawson had spoken in the build-up about sharpness in the field, and virtually nothing went awry in terms of fielding errors or chances not being taken.
Kent's start was decent enough. They were 45-0 off 5 overs but the first of the several excellent catches was taken by Michael Klinger when Bell-Drummond looked to hit Payne over mid off.
Denly had struck the first six of the afternoon straight into the marquee at long on in the third over, and when Benny Howell was introduced after the powerplay had been completed, he was the fifth bowler Gloucestershire skipper Michael Klinger had turned to. He continued to shuffle his options for the remainder of the innings and Kent lost their way in the middle overs and never threatened a big score, with only Billings and Neesham, the latter in the last over, clearing the rope.
The first of three catches for Tom Smith accounted for Denly in Howell's first over, the opener having made 39 out of Kent's first 56 runs. Smith appeared a magnet for the ball as Sam Northeast perished cheaply, also off Howell, and at 82-3 after 10 overs much depended on Billings. The responsibility intensified when he lost Neesham and Blake in successive overs to Liddle and Matt Taylor respectively, Smith again showing safe hands despite playing with a broken finger.
The Kent wicketkeeper did strike a four and a six off successive deliveries from Howell in the 15th over, but on his second wedding anniversary the French born all rounder closed his spell with two more wickets, including that of Billings (36), Matt Taylor taking a tumbling catch and his brother Jack a more routine one as Matt Coles lasted only one ball.
Set 153 to win at less than eight runs an over, the game looked there for the taking if Gloucestershire batted sensibly. Kent had not been as successful as Middlesex in scoring runs straight down the ground and in Michael Klinger Gloucestershire appeared to have the master pacemaker, so it was a surprise when the Australian went down the pitch to off spinner James Tredwell in the sixth over and was bowled for 13.
Klinger and 'keeper Phil Mustard had added 35, so the run rate wasn't an issue, and as Mustard freed his arms it became even less so. He played a deft reverse sweep off Stevens and then pulled the same bowler for six to deep backward square leg.
15 runs also came from a Tredwell over but on debut Imran Quyyam was a surprise element to all the Gloucestershire batsmen, and Mustard made an early error in clipping him straight to Northeast having made 42 and taken Gloucestershire halfway to their target in the tenth over.
Thereafter the middle order finished what Klinger and Mustard had started. Cockbain (31) and Howell (22) both scored as better than a run a ball, as did Cameron Bancroft, who made an unbeaten 34 in a game he hadn't expected to play in a week earlier. Cockbain's brisk running was a feature of his time in the middle which was only cut short by another brilliant catch, this time a one handed effort by Kent's Matt Coles.
Howell's straight six off Coles in the 17th over made it look as if Gloucestershire would finish things in a hurry, but attempting another big hit to win the match Howell was caught at deep mid wicket and it was left to Jack Taylor to close out the win with a thin edge to fine leg off Neesham's first ball of the final over.
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