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    Taylor's throw stops Kent's escape to victory

    11 July 2018

    A game without a fifty - or even a half century stand for that matter - still provided a last ball finish as Gloucestershire edged out Kent to record their second win in the Vitality T20 Blast on another glorious afternoon at the Brightside Ground.

    Starting the last over needing 19 runs for victory with three wickets in hand, two boundaries by Adam Milne helped Kent reduce the target to seven runs off the last two balls but in going for a second run from the penultimate delivery, Sean Dickson was run out following a swift throw by Jack Taylor coming in from the long off boundary.

    Mitchell Claydon was left to hit Ryan Higgins' last ball for six, and when he missed Gloucestershire became the first team this season to inflict defeat on the Royal London Cup finalists.

    Watch Jack Taylor give his post match thoughts here:

    　

    Gloucestershire made two changes to the team which won at Uxbridge on Sunday with Kieran Noema-Barnett and Graham van Buuren coming in for Thisara Perera and Benny Howell, ending Howell's run of 66 consecutive matches in the competition. Both new men had an impact, Noema-Barnett adding a left hander to Gloucestershire's middle order and striking two straight sixes in an over off Joe Denly.

    His contribution of 31 was typical of the Gloucestershire innings after Kent won the toss and decided to field. Wickets were lost at regular intervals but the run rate was maintained once Miles Hammond had cleared the boundary in Denly's first over.

    He soon departed - caught by Denly at extra cover off Milne - but Cockbain and skipper Klinger saw Gloucestershire through the powerplay with 46 on the board. India had chased 199 to beat England on the same pitch on Sunday so Gloucestershire needed to push on from there, and as they did so Klinger fell to Denly - caught at long on by Blake - and the leg spinner also accounted for Cockbain, who was bowled for 29 making room to play the ball on the off side.

    Roderick had also been adjudged lbw to Haggett by the time the 100 came up in the 12th over, so as at Taunton the acceleration in the last six overs again had to come from Ryan Higgins and Jack Taylor after Noema-Barnett hoisted Brathwaite to Dickson at long off.

    Higgins made a brisk 22 - including a straight six off Milne - before Kuhn took a well judged catch, leaving Taylor to finish as top scorer, having pulled Brathwaite to mid wicket for six and planted a full toss from Haggett against the sightscreen in front of the apartments. His unbeaten 42 had taken only 23 deliveries, and 184-7 was enough to set Kent a decent challenge.

    Their top order certainly looked threatening, with Kuhn having picked up his Royal London Cup form and Denly having already made a hundred in their first game against Surrey. The latter didn't last long however, bowled by Graeme van Buuren in the second over as the spinner opened up from the Ashley Down Road end.

    Kent were marginally ahead by the end of the powerplay, and Gloucestershire needed wickets. Kuhn and Daniel Bell-Drummond had added 49 when the latter tried to hit Higgins over cover, only to find van Buuren on the boundary. Three sixes from Sam Billings - two of them off Matt Taylor - appeared to make light of Bell-Drummond's dismissal but having hit Tom Smith for the third, the spinner had his revenge as Billings was bowled for 24, the latest example on the day of a batsman not capitalising on a promising start.

    Blake went cheaply and when the recalled Matt Taylor bowled Brathwaite Kent were 102-5 in the 13th over. Kuhn, however, remained until Noema-Barnett, with his first ball, clung on to a return catch. His departure for 44 appeared to leave Gloucestershire with plenty of runs in the bank, but Kent's seventh wicket pair of Dickson and Haggett had other ideas.

    Left to get 65 from the last five overs, they took 31 off the first two, and it took a smart piece of fielding by Higgins to run out Haggett for 20 at the non strikers end in the 18th over.

    Dickson, who would normally open in the Championship, got it down to 19 from the last over with the help of Milne, and the New Zealander's two boundaries off Higgins left the game balanced on a knife edge before Jack Taylor's accurate throw gave Gloucestershire just enough leeway from the final ball.

    　

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