Dent hails Bracey for his match-winning display
JAMES Bracey displayed the temperament and talent of a future England player as Gloucestershire wrapped up an eight-wicket Championship win over West Country rivals Somerset.
The 23-year-old left-hander added an ice-cool 83 not out to his first innings century and shared a matchclinching second-wicket stand of 79 with Kraigg Brathwaite to help his side to a comprehensive victory.
Brathwaite marked his Glo’sters debut with a solid 36 and together the pair stifled the much-vaunted home seam attack.
The visitors reached their target of 153 off 41.1 overs just before lunch, with Tom Lace uneaten on 20, and took 22 points, to Somerset’s six.
Gloucestershire skipper Chris Dent said: “Everyone in the dressing room is thrilled. We came here last year and were well beaten, but learned a bit about ourselves and probably were not quite ready as a side to take on the top teams.
“Now, after a lot of hard work in the winter, we are that much better prepared to cope with the pressure you are put under. James Bracey handled it brilliantly and may not play many better innings for us than the two here.
“But to win games you have to take 20 wickets and our bowlers are putting in so much effort. We don’t like looking too far forward, but the aim before the season started was a top two finish in our group and that is still very much the case.”
Gloucestershire began the day on 28 for one, needing 125 for victory, with nine wickets in hand, and would have been heartened by the clear blue skies over the Cooper Associates County Ground.
Bracey had shown his mettle the previous evening when taming a fired-up Craig Overton and was soon in control again as Somerset sought early wickets to create a contest, but the pitch only served to show what a poor effort Somerset’s second score of 149 had been.
West Indies captain Brathwaite struck four boundaries in his 62-ball innings before aiming a fifth off a wide ball from Marchant de Lange and getting an inside edge onto his middle stump.
By then, Gloucestershire only required 64 runs, and they inflicted a first defeat in red-ball cricket at their home ground since 2017.
Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said: “Gloucestershire outplayed us and deserved to win. It’s a long time since we lost a red-ball game here and to do so against our rivals hurts.
“James Bracey was the difference between the sides and set a great example for our young batsmen. Our second innings batting was not good enough and we also were not at our best with the ball.
“The lesson to take is that we have to be on our A game all the time. This time we have paid the penalty, but it is only two games into the season and I am certainly not panicking.”