Bracey’s heroics are in vain as county slide to Yorkshire defeat
DAWID Malan showed his class in scoring a fluent half century to guide Yorkshire to a sixwicket victory over Gloucestershire on the final day of the Lv=insurance County Championship First Division match at Bristol’s Seat Unique Stadium.
But the white rose county were made to fight for their win, James Bracey registering an outstanding career-best 177 from 331 balls in a marathon innings of more than seven and a half hours that propelled the hosts to 359 in their second innings. Bracey harvested 17 fours and three sixes and dominated a defiant stand of 104 for the seventh wicket with Zafar Gohar to ensure the contest went into the final session of the fourth day.
The Bristolian was last man out shortly after lunch, removed by Yorkshire captain Steve Patterson, who claimed 4-43, while Haries Rauf finished with 3-96.
Set 211 to win in 60 overs, Yorkshire’s chase was spearheaded by England batsman Malan, who posted 65 and shared in a partnership of 81 with opener George Hill for the third wicket. Thereafter, Harry Brook raised a typically forthright 56 not out from 47 balls to finish the job in an unbroken stand of 67 for the fifth wicket with Harry Duke (17 not out) as the visitors eased home with 10.5 overs to spare.
But this was no walk in the park for a Yorkshire side that required 34 overs to prise out Gloucestershire’s last four batsmen and were then made to graft hard after losing early wickets in their second innings. Highly motivated and persistent in the field, Gloucestershire struck two blows before tea, Adam Lyth holing out to deep fine leg off Matt Taylor and James Wharton losing his off stump to an Ajeet Singh Dale delivery that nipped back off the seam.
Required to score a further 157 from 37 overs in the final session, Malan and Hill calmed any nerves in an assertive alliance of 81. If Gloucestershire’s intention was to stifle scoring and apply pressure through slow left armer Zafar, they were made to think again when Yorkshire’s third-wicket pair took him to task, plundering 11 runs from the 27th over, sent down from the Bristol pavilion end.
Dale came in for similar treatment, conceding three boundaries in one over as the ball lost its shine and runs began to flow on a placid pitch.
A lapse in concentration saw Hill chip Dale to cover for 36, while Malan’s impressive run-a-ball innings, illuminated by nine fours and a six, concluded when he hoisted Zafar to Ryan Higgins on the deep square leg boundary with a further 65 runs needed from 22 overs.
Yorkshire’s century-making hero in the first innings, Brook saw the job through thereafter to further boost his burgeoning reputation.
Gloucestershire had resumed on 2536, their minimum requirement to bat at least until lunch. Zafar and Bracey extended their partnership without too many scares against a new ball that was four overs old at the start of play.
If Yorkshire expected to meet minimal resistance from the lower middle order and tail, they were quickly disabused of the idea as the seventh wicket pair opened up with a fusilade of coverdriven boundaries.
White rose ambition resided with Matty Fisher and Jordan Thompson but when these two proved unable to make a breakthrough, skipper Steve Patterson brought himself into the attack and called up the express pace of Pakistani international Haris Rauf.
His ability to inject genuine pace has afforded Yorkshire’s attack an altogether new dimension and he finally broke the partnership with a ball that lured Zafar, bat held away from body, into pushing hard outside off stump and edging to second slip, where Lyth made a problematic catch appear straightforward. Having raised 40 from 98 balls and played his part in a potentially pivotal stand of 104 in 33 overs,
Zafar departed with Gloucestershire 160 runs to the good, but with a good deal more work to do.
Sensing an opportunity to impose themselves, Yorkshire made good their breakthrough, striking a second blow eight balls later, Matt Taylor shuffling in front of a straight ball from Patterson and falling lbw for one. Joined by Josh Shaw, Bracey found renewed urgency to go to 150 from 297 balls, a startling pull shot through mid-wicket yielding his 16th boundary and a standing ovation from an appreciative Easter Sunday audience.
Hit full on the helmet and visibly stunned by Rauf the previous evening, Bracey was further discomfited when Yorkshire’s new overseas signing struck him a glancing blow on the top of his headwear shortly before lunch. Checked out by medical staff, Gloucestershire’s centurion was eventually given a green light to continue, recovering his composure sufficiently to usher his side to the sanctuary of the interval on 333-8, a lead of 184.
Shaw was caught at the wicket off the bowling of Rauf shortly after the restart without adding to his score of 11, after which Bracey took matters into his own hands to bring up his highest first-class score in style. A top-edged pull at the expense of Rauf flew over deep backward square for six, at which point the left-hander surpassed the 156 he made in a match against Glamorgan at Cardiff in 2017.
Making a conscious decision to take on Rauf, Bracey pulled a further two short-pitched deliveries for six and then punched a length ball through the covers for four in a costly over that propelled Gloucestershire’s lead beyond the 200 mark.
Attempting to force the issue in the next over, Bracey pushed a slower ball from Patterson to short cover to end the innings. Bracey’s body language as he trudged off suggested Gloucestershire had fallen just short, and so it proved.
The match started with Gloucestershire making 227 in their first innings, a score underpinned by overseas signing Marcus Harris making 136 on his debut, but he lacked support from his new team-mates.
Harry Brook’s fifth first class century then guided Yorkshire into a strong position as he was dismissed for 101 in their total of 376, a lead of 149, with Dale taking a career-best four for 72.