Price gets it right Tom keeps his nerve to clinch a thrilling victory
TOM Price was the tail-end hero with 38 not out from 34 balls as Gloucestershire pulled off a breathless two-wicket Royal London Cup victory against Surrey at the Kia Oval.
Ben Geddes, Surrey’s Royal London Cup captain, had done his best to inspire his team by scoring 71 in Surrey’s 292-9, running out Tom Smith during a tense finish and juggling his rookie bowling attack with skill.
But Price, who came in with Gloucestershire seemingly making a mess of a chase that had looked well on course, kept his head in an unbroken ninth wicket stand of 42 with Paul van Meekeren.
Price pulled the winning four off Matt Dunn to clinch a win, with 2.3 overs to spare.
Price said: “We’re delighted with that win. The guys up front did the hard yards in terms of chasing down their total because they got us ahead of the required run rate.
“Surrey kept taking wickets and when Meeks (van Meekeren) joined me at eight down we knew what we had to do. We kept talking to each other and we kept it simple, and it was great to get the team over the line.”
Skipper Jack Taylor had followed up his 3-38 with five sixes in a 46-ball 51, but Gloucestershire kept losing wickets at vital times.
Taylor’s seven overs of leg breaks contributed to 34 overs of spin bowled by Gloucestershire, with Pakistan international Zafar Gohar not conceding a boundary in his 10 overs. Gohar also bowled five of those overs in the first powerplay, having Ryan Patel held on the deep square leg ropes for five and, in the end, impressing with 1-35.
Gloucestershire’s chase did not start well, with Ben Wells bowled for 12 by a beauty from Dunn and Australian Test left-hander Marcus Harris chopping into his stumps against Tom Lawes to go for nine. But, from 34-2, they counter-attacked through James Bracey and Ben Charlesworth, who added 61 in nine overs with some sparkling strokeplay.
Six of Bracey’s first seven scoring shots were fours, including extra cover driven and forced offside boundaries from the second and third balls he faced, from Lawes.
On 34, however, Bracey lifted his 25th ball to cover off Cameron Steel’s legspin and, on 49, Charlesworth chipped a return catch to Yousef Majid, Surrey’s 18-year-old slow left armer just out of Cranleigh School.
Majid was struck for three sixes in four balls by Taylor but Gloucestershire’s progress was checked when Oli Price, having batted commandingly to reach 45 from 33 balls with eight fours, was strangled down the legside by seamer Nick Kimber.
Gohar made 30 before reversesweeping Majid to short third man, and Taylor struck sixes off Lawes and Majid before holing out to deep mid wicket in the 39th over.
When Smith was run out by Geddes in the next over, the game was in the balance at 252-8 – but Price and Van Meekeren were equal to the task.
Surrey’s innings was built upon a 102-run second wicket stand in 17 overs between Geddes and Steel, and then a further partnership of 51 for the third wicket by Geddes and Josh Blake.
But van Meekeren had Steel caught at the wicket for a 54-ball 61 and Oli Price’s off spin then dismissed Geddes and Blake (31) during his seven-over spell of 2-34 from the Vauxhall End.
Smith’s left-arm spin accounted for both Nico Reifer, brilliantly caught and bowled with a diving left-handed effort for 11, and Sheridon Gumbs, who on 17 was unfortunate to pick out Wells at short third man with a sweetly-hit reverse sweep.
Suddenly, 181-2 had become 222-6 in 11 overs of struggle against the two spinners and it took Lawes’ third successive Royal London Cup half-century to pull Surrey up to a defendable total.
Lawes flipped van Meekeren for an extraordinary six to fine leg when the Dutch international fast bowler was reintroduced for the 45th over, and then produced a similarly cheeky stroke to the next ball to flick it to fine third man for four.
Kimber managed a few meaty blows before skying Taylor to square cover on 17 and Gloucestershire’s skipper – taking on the responsibility of bowling three death overs – then dived to his right to send back Conor Mckerr for two with a smart caught and bowled.
Lawes swatted van Meekeren over deep mid wicket for his second six and then reverse-slapped Taylor for four to reach his 50 in the final over before, on 50 from 40 balls, mis-hitting to short third man, where van Meekeren ran in to take a good tumbling catch.