Durham stitched up by rampant Taylor
MATT Taylor led the way with four wickets as Gloucestershire recorded their second Specsavers County Championship win of the season with a 41-run success against Durham at Cheltenham.
The left-arm seamer finished with four for 31 from 16 overs to help bowl out the visitors for 298, chasing a victory target of 340.
Cameron Steel (62) and Tom Latham (45) gave Durham a promising start, but they wilted against Taylor, Craig Miles (three for 76) and Ryan Higgins (three for 44) on another sweltering afternoon and Mark Wood’s unbeaten 61 proved in vain.
Gloucestershire took 23 points from their first Championship win since the opening round of fixtures, while their opponents had to be content with five after four days of tough and competitive cricket.
Durham began the day on 35 without loss and enjoyed the better of the morning session. Latham and Steel took their opening stand to 94 against some accurate Gloucestershire bowling before Latham fenced at a ball from Matt Taylor and edged through to Gareth Roderick.
Steel was unbeaten on 57 at lunch, with the total 121 for one, but when he perished in the second over after the interval, lbw to Miles falling across his stumps, it signalled a transformation in fortunes.
Taylor and Higgins settled in to bowl probing spells from the Chapel End and College Lawn End respectively, tying the batsmen down and making vital breakthroughs.
Higgins removed Graham Clark (30) and Will Smith (32) during a six-over spell that brought him two for 23, Clark falling to a fine fulllength diving catch by Roderick and Smith pinned lbw.
Taylor was equally impressive and claimed the key wicket of Ben Stokes, who had begun positively, but moved to only nine before being bowled on the back foot. The same fate befell Stuart Poynter, on eight, and at 201 for six, Durham still required a further 139.
They were given renewed hope by Wood and Michael Richardson, who took the score to 226 for six at tea and continued to bat solidly in the final session.
Wood was dropped on 18 by Miles Hammond at cover off Kieran Noema-Barnett and responded by hitting four fours in an over from Miles just before the second new ball.
Richardson had helped add 59 when falling lbw for 26 looking to work Miles through the legside. Soon it was 267 for eight as Matt Salisbury was bowled on the back foot by Miles for a single.
Gloucestershire had their tails up but, while Wood was there, Durham had a chance. He began to run out of partners when George Harding chipped a tame catch to midwicket off Taylor and departed for seven.
Wood, who was able to bowl only six overs in the match because of a sore heel, moved to a defiant 50 off 74 balls, with nine fours. But when Chris Rushworth was caught behind to give Higgins his third wicket, Gloucestershire had won with 11 overs left in the day’s play.
Gloucestershire seamer Matt Taylor said: “At the start of the day we talked about the game possibly going into the final hour and the need to stay patient if that happened.
“I felt we did that. It was a tough day and we eventually got our rewards. I was just looking to run in and hit the pitch hard on the right length. It was nice to get Ben Stokes out because that was a key wicket for us.
“Over the four days all the bowlers contributed. Ryan Higgins has been an outstanding signing for us, but the wickets were shared around and in both games here there have been some great partnerships from our top order batsmen. “To beat one strong side and run another close has been a good effort. The Sussex game went against us in the end, but we wanted to bounce back quickly and that’s what happened.” Durham coach Jon Lewis said: “Mark Wood batted exceptionally well, but when you are chasing 340 you don’t want your number eight to be top scorer.
“We have trailed on first innings too often this season and the deficit this time was too great. Our top order have got to put together more partnerships.”
When you are chasing 340 you don’t want your number eight to be top scorer Durham coach Jon Lewis