Rouse Delight At Match-Winning Knock
27 June 2014
Adam Rouse spoke of his delight after securing an exciting NatWest T20 Blast victory for Gloucestershire over Kent at the Bristol County Ground.
The triallist wicketkeeper marked his first home game with an unbeaten 35 from just 16 balls as Gloucestershire reached a target of 151 off the last ball and with three wickets left.
Gloucestershire looked to be struggling when Will Gidman's dismissal for a hard-hitting 22 left them 101-6 in the 16th over. But Jack Taylor made 19 off ten balls and Rouse received, if you'll pardon the pun, a rousing reception after he took three boundaries off the last over from Australian paceman Doug Bollinger to clinch a third T20 win of the season for Gloucestershire.
After Tom Smith had taken three runs from the first two balls of the last over, Rouse lofted Bollinger for four over mid-on and hit the next ball to the third man boundary to tie the totals. No run was scored off the fifth ball, but Rouse hit the last delivery, a low full toss, to the long-on boundary.
Reflecting on the win, Rouse told this website: "It's an awesome feeling. Winning is always a good feeling, but when you are on trial and it's your home debut, it's nice to come in and do something for the team.
"We bat quite deep, and the boys were thinking as long as we take the game deep, we'll give ourselves a good chance of winning it. We've got some good hitters down the order, as Jack Taylor showed, so we knew if we could keep it under 15 in the last over we'd have a chance."
Rouse made his debut in the rain-hit T20 game at Lord's on Thursday, and is expected to make his County Championship debut in the game against Essex, starting at Chelmsford on Sunday. He said of his trial period with the county: "I'm just enjoying playing. It's a great opportunity for me having not had such a great winter, when I was released (by Hamsphire).
"It's nice to have been given this opportunity and just to run with it. If anything comes of it, that would be great."
For more details on the thrilling win over Kent click on Cricket and then Match Reports.
