Gloucester claim victory on final day at Old Trafford

Gloucestershire claimed a 91-run victory on an enthralling final day of their four-day encounter against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford. 

A total of 15 wickets fell on the final day as Gloucestershire declared on 275/9, setting their hosts 300 to win the match, a target they were unable to achieve after enduring a tough start to their second innings as Lancashire were all out for 208 inside 57 overs.

Lancashire suffered a disastrous start to their run-chase after they were reduced to 22/4, but Alviro Petersen (63) and Alex Davies (58) responded excellently to this setback and played positively, particularly against the spin of Tom Smith, as they added 118 runs in 24 overs before tea.

These runs came at an incredible rate as the pair brought up the hundred partnership in only 129 deliveries, with most of these runs coming in a five-over spell from the left-arm spinner Smith, who conceded 43 runs including three sixes to Davies in the afternoon session.

But the dismissal of both batsmen in the space of 19 balls either side of tea put a severe dent to not only their run-chase but also their chances of saving the draw, as Gloucestershire went on to record their second win of the campaign taking them into second place in Division Two behind Lancashire.

Davies made his third fifty of the season but it wasn't enough to save Lancashire.

The fourth and final day began with the game slightly undeveloped and Gloucestershire having had the better of the the first three days, but the game had been evenly fought and could have gone either way. Control continued to exchange hands throughout Day Four, but it was the visitors who started proceedings in charge thanks to an unbeaten partnership worth 130 runs between Peter Handscomb and Hamish Marshall.

The pair gave Gloucestershire an overnight lead of 230 runs, but the visitors went on to lose their final six wickets for only 65 runs as they sought to increase their lead and give Lancashire a target to chase on the final day in Manchester.

Given that these two had batted together so well, it was quite a surprise when miscommunication caused Handscomb to be ran out for 76, as he added just two more runs to his overnight score before Marshall refused a quick single, with both batsmen ending up at the non-strikers end. Handscomb gave Marshall a despondent look - as it was the Australian's call - but Davies was fortunate that the run out was comfortable as he dropped the ball when the throw came in.

It became clear that Gloucestershire were attempting to increase their lead with a sense of urgency as captain Geraint Jones (6) hit only his second ball for six, but his attempt to replicate this result a second time ended in his dismissal, as he was caught comfortably by Petersen off Simon Kerrigan.

Marshall (92) made an eye-catching half-century in the first innings and he carried both his form and desire to play positively into the second, as he pushed towards a century which sadly eluded the New Zealand batsman when he had his off-stump uprooted by Kyle Jarvis (1-58), with Gloucestershire losing their third wicket for 27 runs.

Kerrigan (2-78) collected his second scalp of the innings when he had Smith (4) out lbw at 252/7, but it was Siddle (4-39) who cleaned up the Gloucestershire tail as the Australian finished with his best figures for Lancashire in his final Championship appearance for the Red Rose in his early-season stint as their overseas player.

Siddle forced Craig Miles (12) into an uppish drive which he mistimed to sub fielder Arron Lilley at point, before bowling David Payne for 3 as he lost his middle stump to a delivery that kept low and swung back into the right-hander. This gave Siddle his eighteenth wicket in four matches and the loss of the ninth wicket signalled Gloucestershire's declaration at 275/9, setting Lancashire exactly 300 runs to win.

Siddle finished with figures of 4 for 39.

Gloucestershire made the ideal start, reducing Lancashire to 22/4 inside nine overs as the hosts suffered a top-order collapse of monumental proportions. Payne and Miles struck early blows before lunch, removing both of Lancashire's opening batsman as the hosts entered the interval on 11/2.

Luis Reece continued a run of poor form with the bat when he fell to the final delivery of the third over as he was out lbw to Payne for just two. Matters were made a whole lot worse for Lancashire when first-innings centurion Paul Horton was caught behind by Gareth Roderick off Miles, four balls after the loss of Reece, with both wickets falling with the hosts' score at 11.

The wicket of Horton was the eighth to fall in the morning session and the ninth wicket of the day fell ten balls later when the dependable presence of Ashwell Prince (2) failed to get Lancashire out of a spot of bother as the South-African batsman was also caught behind off Miles.

Three overs later Lancashire's stand-in captain Steven Croft became the latest in a procession of wickets, becoming the third batsman to be caught behind, this time off the bowling of Payne (3-31). Petersen and Davies came together with the score at 22/4 with next to zero chance of saving the draw, let alone chasing the 300 set by Gloucestershire, but they added 100 runs in just 85 minutes in the afternoon session, putting the match back in the balance after a calamitous display from Lancashire's top order.

Petersen was out of form but he showed his potential and used his experience as a South-African test player to good advantage as he and Lancashire's young wicketkeeper made 118 for the fifth-wicket partnership. The introduction of spin in the form of Smith proved to be a real boost to Lancashire as Davies hit the left-arm spinner for three sixes in an expensive spell of bowling.

The Lancashire wicketkeeper was soon on his way to a third half-century of the season, but it was the South-African Petersen who reached this milestone first, recording his first fifty since going on to make a century in the opening fixture against Derbyshire in 71 balls, his seventh four taking him to this feat.

The pair recorded the hundred partnership with Lancashire starting to tip the balance in their favour for the first time in the entire game. Gloucestershire's impressive first innings total and subsequent lead had given Lancashire much to ponder and being set a target of 300, on a pitch which started to offer something to the bowlers, was going to be a challenge for the hosts, especially after stumbling to 22/4 so early on.

Petersen made an accomplished half-century as he shared 118 runs with Davies.

Davies soon followed with a fifty of his own, taking one fewer delivery than Petersen thanks largely to the three sixes he had hit off Smith, by which stage the Red Rose still needed 176 more runs to win the match and although a victory was still a long way off, the notion of at least saving the draw had become a realistic target.

However, the loss of both Petersen and Davies in the space of 19 balls either side of tea shifted the balance back in Gloucester's favour and the loss of Davies was particularly frustrating for the hosts with the 20-year-old falling in the final over before the interval to a reckless shot under the circumstances.

Lancashire and Davies in particular had play with positivity to get out of the mess they had found themselves in, but when Davies picked out Marshall at mid-wicket off the bowling of Kieran Noema-Barnett, there was a sense that Gloucestershire had reassumed control of the match.

The loss of Petersen 18 balls later put an even bigger dent in Lancashire's chances when he drove the ball into the covers, only to find the safe hand of Handscomb as Payne claimed his third and final wicket of the innings.

The notion of victory was now a distant memory at 148/6 and the only realistic target was for Lancashire to try and salvage the draw, but the immediacy with which they had lost Davies and then Petersen inflicted irreparable damage to their bid for survival.

Siddle had the opportunity to make a lasting impression on the Old Trafford faithful in his final appearance for the club before joining his international teammates for their tour of the West Indies, but he fell for 12 when he skied a Liam Norwell delivery into the gloves of Roderick, who went on to claim five catches in the second innings with the removal of Nathan Buck later on in the day.

Jordan Clark's tenure as a first-class cricketer has been a short one thus far, but the Cumbrian-born all-rounder went on to make his best score of the season with another positive innings for Lancashire despite the desperation of the match position. He and Buck (17) in fact took the aggressive route hitting a two sixes each in their respective innings to give the home crowd something to be optimistic about.

Jordan Clark showed good spirit despite Lancashire's unsuccessful run chase.

Smith continued to endure a torrid time with the ball, eventually finishing with figures of 0 for 71 from only eight overs as he bared the brunt of this aggressive tactic. Lancashire's positivity meant that they were able to cut the required total to less than 100, but Norwell (2-27) struck again to remove Buck with a thin edge through to the keeper at 203/8.

As had often been the case for Lancashire in this game, one wicket brought another and Clark (34) was out lbw to Miles without adding anymore runs following the departure of Buck. Simon Kerrigan and Kyle Jarvis were then left with an uncomfortable spell of batting before the former was eventually bowled by Miles for no score, as the Gloucestershire bowler collected figures of 4 for 58.

The only saving grace for Lancashire was the fact that they remain top of the second division despite this defeat, while the winners of this four day encounter moved up into second place behind the Red Rose.

LV= County Championship points: Lancashire 7, Gloucestershire 22.