Timing of victory was unexpected : Dawson
10 July 2015
Head Coach Richard Dawson confessed he was surprised how the Championship match unravelled into a two day Gloucestershire victory at the Cheltenham Festival.
The result was made possible by Jack Taylor's second century of the summer and then a dramatic first hour with the new ball in the Northamptonshire second innings, where Craig Miles, James Fuller and Liam Norwell shared five wickets.
"We didn't think about winning the game in two days from where we were at the start of play" reflected Dawson. "We did speak about putting ourselves in a position on day three and day four to drive the game, and obviously things moved on a bit quicker than we expected but it's hard to say when we actually felt we were in control of it. Even at four wickets down in their second innings they still had attacking players like Levi and Rossington in so it was never a case of being relaxed about it. We just had to keep working consistently as a group, backing up the bowlers in the field and that's what we did."
From a position where Northants looked like securing a useful first innings lead, Jack Taylor played a memorable innings for both himself and the team, and Dawson says it's now about Taylor trying to even out the peaks and troughs in his form.
"We were in a bit of a hole at the time but the way Jack and Benny Howell went about their batting in the last hour of the morning session in particular was really good" said Dawson.
" Benny and Craig (Miles) in supporting Jack were high class given the state of the game, and it gave him the opportunity to bat as he did. Jack is an attacking player and we talked about giving him the chance to go on and make that type of score. Everyone has their own technique, he is still young in his cricketing career and he's still working on his game. He is by nature a confident character but he knows he has to be more consistent."
The match was the first to end in two days at Cheltenham since 1996, and only the third Championship win at the College Ground since 2001, a record Dawson was pleased to enhance.
"The highlight so far this season has been how we've bowled consistently, and to get them 38-5 in 11 overs in their second innings was really good because we were asking a lot of questions and putting batsmen under pressure. In the end the day turned out a bit like a highlights package with runs and wickets throughout, and after being in positions in Bristol to win and find it's not quite happened for us, this is really nice."
