Shaw's four wicket haul keeps Sussex in check
21 September 2016
Loanee Josh Shaw kept Gloucestershire competitive with Sussex at the Brightside Ground as both teams battled for a possible top three finish in this final Division 2 Championship match of the season.
The 20 year old Yorkshireman broke a century stand for Sussex's second wicket between Chris Nash and Luke Wells, and finished the day with his fourth four wicket haul of the season as Sussex reached 208-4 in 65 overs before bad light stopped play with the visitors 21 runs behind.
Earlier in the day, David Payne completed a third half century in successive Championship matches before being last out for 56, as Gloucestershire were dismissed for 229 in their first innings.
Listen to Josh Shaw's close of play thoughts here :
The day began with Chris Dent and David Payne looking to reach personal milestones, having resumed 86 not out and 48 not out respectively. 12 overs had to be bowled before Sussex could take the new ball, but that proved sufficient to mop up the last three Gloucestershire wickets.
A cut by Payne off Jordan brought up his half century, and also broke the record for the eighth wicket stand against Sussex at Bristol, which had stood since 1907. Both approached the early overs with caution, and it was the introduction of Jofra Archer which accelerated the end of the Gloucestershire innings.
In his first over Dent, having reached 90, saw the chance of a fourth Championship century of the season disappear as he spooned a gentle return catch to the young Barbadian. Archer, who has an English passport, then bowled Josh Shaw for 5, and when David Payne also gave a caught and bowled chance to Chris Jordan, he was last out for 56 and Gloucestershire's last three wickets had gone down for 28 runs.
It left Sussex a little over an hour to bat until lunch, and two of their most experienced players were soon together as 17 year old Tom Haines feathered an edge to 'keeper Phil Mustard in Josh Shaw's second over with only four runs on the board.
Left hander Luke Wells then joined Chris Nash, and two men with seven Championship centuries between them this season set about building a solid base for Sussex's reply.
Aside from Matt Taylor's big appeal for an edge by Wells to 'keeper Mustard when he had made 13, there were no great alarms until lunch when Sussex had chalked off 46 runs towards the Gloucestershire total.
During lunch the ground staff indicated a shower might delay play during the afternoon session, and sure enough only five overs were possible before short interruptions for both rain and bad light, time which took away the possibility of Gloucestershire bowling enough overs to take the second new ball until the third day.
Nash and Wells' greatest issue at this time was their running between the wickets, with a couple of narrow escapes from throws that narrowly missed the stumps. The pitch appeared increasingly placid and both men were happy to play off the back foot against Matt Taylor and David Payne, with only the occasional delivery that troubling them.
One, when Craig Miles was introduced, was edged towards the slips but dropped short of Chris Dent, and Nash brought up his fifty from 98 balls with his eighth boundary, driving Miles past mid on towards the pavilion.
The bounce was occasionally lower than expected, Wells having to adjust his defence to keep out Josh Shaw, but in his second spell, and in the last ten minutes before tea, Shaw gave Gloucestershire some reward in what had otherwise been a quiet afternoon session.
Firstly he induced an edge from Nash to Mustard for 66, and then bowled Fynn Hudson-Prentice for 9. Sussex had added 82 runs in the session, but remained 101 runs in arrears with seven wickets in hand.
Philip Salt joined Wells at the resumption, Wells picking off two leg side boundaries in an over from Miles before Jack Taylor's off spin was introduced for the first time. It was a brief experiment, skipper Roderick turning back to his seamers for the remainder of the day.
Shaw's persistence finally accounted for Wells, who having made 75 miscued a pull shot and found the safe hands of Matt Taylor at mid off, but eight overs later the light became too poor to continue, with Salt and his captain Ben Brown having nudged Sussex onto 208-4, 21 runs in arrears.
Two days remain, with another 15 overs to be bowled before Gloucestershire have a new ball available. As on so many occasions this summer, that phase could decide the match.
