Gloucestershire top-four hopes take a hit as visitors stage recovery from 32 for 4
Jack Davies played a vital hand in Middlesex’s win • Getty Images
Middlesex 181 for 8 (Davies 53, Andersson 52, Payne 3-28) beat Gloucestershire 152 (J Taylor 45, Hollman 3-37) by 29 runs
Jack Davies and Martin Andersson staged a gutsy alliance of 101 as Middlesex recovered from adversity to forge a 29-run Vitality Blast victory over Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.
Reduced to 32 for 4 in the powerplay, the Londoners were indebted to their fifth wicket pair, Davies raising 53 in 35 balls and Andersson 52 from 39 deliveries to stage a recovery that saw Middlesex eventually post a competitive total of 181 for 8.
It proved too big an ask for Gloucestershire, whose chase was undermined by Luke Hollman, the leg spinner claiming 3-37 from four overs. Jack Taylor and Beau Webster scored 45 and 31 respectively and staged a stand of 68 for the fourth wicket to keep the chase alive, but Middlesex seamers Blake Cullen, Noah Cornwell, Tom Helm and Ryan Higgins bowled a disciplined line to dismiss the home side for 152 in 19.5 overs.
Gloucestershire’s fifth defeat in 11 outings in the South Group denied them an opportunity to climb into the top four for the first time and are now under pressure to win against Hampshire in Southampton on Friday if they are to keep alive their hopes of claiming a place in the quarter-finals. As for bottom-of-the-table Middlesex, this was their first win since early June and only their second in 11 matches this season.
Middlesex lost the toss and suffered a series of early blows, openers Leus du Plooy and Mark Stoneman departing cheaply as David Payne and Matt Taylor made early in-roads. Former Gloucestershire man Higgins endured a Festival return to forget, pulling a length ball from Josh Shaw and falling to a brilliant one-handed catch by Miles Hammond at mid-on, while Joe Cracknell skied Payne to deep midwicket as the visitors subsided to 32 for 4 inside five overs.
In no position to take undue risks, Davies and Andersson sought recourse in sensible cricket for a while as they attempted to rebuild. Lured into chancing his arm by the College Ground’s short boundaries, Davies crashed Marchant de Lange for two successive sixes over midwicket as Middlesex counter-punched, the fifth wicket partnership realising 50 from 34 balls as the score progressed to 81 for 4 at halfway.
Jack Taylor permitted Davies a life on 37, fumbling a presentable chance at mid-on off the bowling of de Lange and the Middlesex man made the hosts pay, going to 50 via 32 balls. Growing in stature as he found the boundary with increasing regularity, Andersson faced just three deliveries more in attaining the same landmark and the partnership entered three figures in the 16th over.
Having accrued five fours and two sixes, Davies hoisted de Lange to deep backward square to afford Gloucestershire relief, Anderson hit Matt Taylor to backward point and Luke Hollman was brilliantly run out by Jack Taylor as the visitors slipped from 133 for 4 to 138 for 7 in the space of nine balls. Payne returned to remove big-hitting Tom Helm, after which Josh De Caires smashed 31 not out off 16 balls, with three fours and a six, to haul his side to a challenging total.
Sensing an opportunity to forge a rare victory, Middlesex exerted early pressure with the new ball, Cornwell bowling Hammond for a nine-ball duck and then inducing James Bracey to miscue to mid-on as the hosts battled their way to 34 for 2 at the end of the powerplay.
Cameron Bancroft never appeared comfortable and had scratched just 10 off 18 balls when he was pinned lbw by Hollman’s first ball with the score on 40 in the eighth. Webster and Jack Taylor did their utmost to breathe new life into the chase, but the required rate was up to 11.2 an over by the time Gloucestershire reached halfway on 70 for 3.
Taylor demonstrated aggressive intent when pulling Higgins high over the midwicket boundary, while Webster twice drove the same bowler for four through the cover region as the fourth wicket pair built momentum. Taylor hit Hollman for a straight six to raise the 50 partnership in 31 balls and then repeated the feat next delivery to bring up three figures and rouse a substantial Festival audience.
But scoreboard pressure forced a mistake and Taylor, having made 45 from 24 balls in a stand of 68, hoisted Blake Cullen high to midwicket. Higgins then clean bowled Webster for a 26-ball 31, at which point Gloucestershire required a further 70 runs from five overs with two new batsmen in the middle.
Hollman removed Ben Charlesworth and Ollie Price in the sixteenth over to reduce the home side to 115 for 7, while Helm and Higgins accounted for Shaw and Matt Taylor respectively to put the outcome beyond doubt.
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