Taylor keeps his cool in final-over shoot-out
MATT Taylor successfully defended seven from the final over as Gloucestershire claimed their first Vitality Blast win of this season’s with a two-run victory over Middlesex.
The left-armer conceded just four, with former Gloucestershire man Ryan Higgins needing three off the final ball and attempting a paddle shot that led to him being run out.
Middlesex, who remain winless, had looked set to break their duck after Stephen Eskinazi struck a fifty and Higgins and Luke Hollman shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 55 from 30 balls. But they fell just short of the Gloucestershire total of 181 for nine, centred around Miles Hammond’s knock of 59 from 42.
Asked to bat after losing the toss, Gloucestershire began briskly with Grant Roelofsen taking 18 from Tom Helm’s second over, but the opener’s knock of 34 came to a tame end when he patted Higgins to mid-off.
Higgins, playing against his former county for the first time since his return to Middlesex, was expensive overall – as was his dropped catch at long-on when Hammond, with just nine to his name, took on Hollman.
The left-hander capitalised on that let-off, launching successive Blake Cullen deliveries over the fence and driving Hollman over the top for six more as he passed his half-century before chopping Cullen to point.
Joe Cracknell pouched the catch, his third of the innings – a routine one by comparison with the second, when he raced from deep midwicket to long on and dived for a one-handed grab that removed visiting skipper Jack Taylor.
Cullen also claimed the wicket of the big-hitting Marchant de Lange to finish with three for 38, while Martin Andersson took two for 30 as Graeme van Buuren’s unbeaten 28 from 19 nudged Gloucestershire above 180.
Middlesex kept up with the required run-rate of nine at the start of their pursuit, with Cracknell sweeping Tom Smith’s first delivery to the boundary and bisecting the leg-side fielders perfectly to collect four more off David Payne.
He and Eskinazi scored freely as they accumulated a partnership of 78 from 48 but Cracknell, having reverse-swept Smith for four, was lbw for 42 from 28 attempting to repeat the shot later in the over.
Eskinazi began to impose himself on the Gloucestershire spinners, pumping Van Buuren over long-on for two sixes, but Ollie Price boosted the visitors’ prospects with a single over of off-breaks that accounted for both Max Holden and Pieter Malan.
De Lange backed this up, firing one through Eskinazi’s defences to take out middle stump, but Hollman took two fours off Matt Taylor in quick succession and thumped Payne for another to reach 39 from 19 before he was bowled by Price. Vitality Blast South Group – Northwood: Gloucestershire 181-9 (M A H Hammond 59), Middlesex 179-6 (S S Eskinazi 54). Gloucestershire beat Middlesex by two runs.
Tom Banton acknowledges that three wins out of three represents a terrific start to Somerset’s Vitality Blast campaign, but they must keep up their high standards – with Kent next up at Canterbury this evening, writes Andy Stockhausen.
Having already beaten Hampshire and Sussex, Somerset were winners by four wickets against Glamorgan on Sunday evening, with Banton making 54.
The wicketkeeper-batsman said: “Obviously it’s going really well at the moment and the guys are playing some great cricket, but let’s not take it for granted. There is more to come from us, but for now we have to focus on maintaining this form.
“It’s been a good start for me personally and I need to just keep my head down and keep watching the ball.
“I’m trying not to pre-empt things, just take each ball on it’s merits, and it seems to be working at the moment.
“I have the best seat in the house behind the stumps when our bowlers are going about their business, and they have just been awesome so far.
“Glamorgan only scored 154 and, as everybody at Taunton will know, that is not enough here.
“It’s always going to be difficult to defend 150 and that’s how it turned out. Roelof van der Verve is getting better as he gets older and it’s nice to see him try to bowl proper leftarm spin.”