da 888： An intriguing final day lies in prospect at Cheltenham, with Gloucestershireset 323 to win on a pitch that remains slow, but batsman-friendly
Richard Latham21-Jul-2000
Ian Harvey – late-order wickets
Photo © AllSport
An intriguing final day lies in prospect at Cheltenham, with Gloucestershireset 323 to win on a pitch that remains slow, but batsman-friendly.Bowlers have needed to work hard for their wickets throughout a tightly-contested match and Gloucestershire coach John Bracewell is far from daunted by his team’s task. “We need to lay a solid foundation and try to keep wickets in hand,” he said. “If we can do that up to tea anything will be possible in the final session.”
Warwickshire will consider themselves favourites after a solid, ifunspectacular second innings batting effort that saw them bowled out for 316with the final ball of day three.Nightwatchman Keith Piper, unbeaten on eight overnight, top-scored with 69off 161 balls, with 10 fours, while Dominic Ostler, Trevor Penney and DavidHemp made valuable contributions.Battle of attritionIt was a battle of attrition in the College Ground sunshine asGloucestershire’s bowlers stuck to their task well and managed to breakthrough every time Warwickshire got into a position to accelerate towards adeclaration.The morning session saw the visitors progress steadily from 38-1 to 121-2,losing only Michael Powell for 28, caught at short extra cover prodding atpace bowler Ben Gannon.By tea it was 208-4 after Piper and Ostler had taken their third-wicketstand to 90. Both fell in the same Jon Lewis spell after Warwickshire hadbeen 177-2 and looking to raise the tempo.Piper gave a regulation nick to fellow wicketkeeper Jack Russell, whileOstler’s 153-ball innings of 54, including 6 fours, was ended by an lbwdecision as he pushed half forward.Penney and Hemp then put Warwickshire in a strong position again with astand of 62 before Gannon dismissed both, finding a good rhythm from thelonger run-up he is experimenting with in this game.Penney’s 42, off 70 balls, included some of the brightest stroke-making ofthe day, while Dougie Brown’s 25 kept the scoreboard ticking towards a handylead.Harvey’s disciplined line and strengthBut from 252-4 the final total was a disappointment. Ian Harvey added fourlate order wickets to the five he collected in the first innings.Sharp catches off his own bowling accounted for Ashley Giles and Neil Smith.And when last man Ed Giddins was bowled for a duck the last three wicketshad fallen in the space of four Harvey deliveries.The Australian all-rounder returned 4-71 for match figures of 9-100, whileLewis and Gannon deservedly claimed three victims each for maintaining adisciplined line and length.There was an old fashioned feel about the cricket in the beautiful CollegeGround setting, with no trace of the cavalier approach which so ofteninfiltrates Championship matches from the one-day game.Spectators brought up on more adventurous play had to be patient. But thecontest was never less than absorbing and there is every prospect of afinale worthy of the bumper Cheltenham attendances, which are expected tototal 30,000 by the end of the Festival on Sunday.