Gloucestershire in remarkable tied finish with Glamorgan at festival
GLAMORGAN narrowly missed out on making history on the final day of a thrilling Vitality County Championship Division Two match against Gloucestershire, which ended in a remarkable tie at Cheltenham.
Charged with the task of pursuing what would have been a world record run chase of 593, the Welsh county dramatically levelled the scores, leaving last man Jamie McIlroy requiring a single off the final ball of the match to achieve a historic win. But he edged Ajeet Singh Dale’s last delivery and was brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper James Bracey, who claimed his 10th victim of a memorable contest, to spark scenes of mayhem among delighted home supporters at the famous old College Ground.
Skipper Rob Northeast topscored with a brilliant 187 and overseas star Marnus Labuschagne made 119 to put Glamorgan in with a chance of eclipsing the highest run chase of all time, the 536 successfully pursued by West Zone in a Duleep Trophy match against South Zone in India in February 2010.
But Gloucestershire’s bowlers held their nerve under extreme pressure and Matt Taylor took 3-120, including the crucial wicket of Northeast, leaving the visitors to score 32 off 10 overs. Mason Crane played supremely well to raise 43 not out, but Singh Dale demonstrated nerves of steel to frustrate the visitors at the death.
The first tied game in English county cricket in six years earned the two sides 11 points apiece, with Glamorgan registering the highest fourth-innings score in any firstclass game played in England and the third highest of all time anywhere in the world.
When they resumed their second innings with seven wickets standing, Glamorgan’s hopes of chasing down a world record target rested, in large part, upon the broad shoulders
of Labuschagne and Northeast. Certainly, the home side had to exercise patience, the first hour passing without a sniff of a chance as the fourth wicket pair knuckled down to the task of batting time. They also took advantage of a quick-scoring ground to keep the scoreboard ticking over, Northeast going to his 50 from 70 balls and then bringing up the 100 partnership in 24 overs. Having reined himself in and played responsibly, Labuschagne fairly rushed to three figures, the Australian plundering three boundaries in a rare wayward over from Marchant de Lange. The last of these was a pull shot to the midwicket boundary, which brought up his hundred via 148 balls.
As Labuschagne became more adventurous, so Gloucestershire’s chances of removing him increased and his dismissal, when it came 35 minutes before lunch, was greeted by raucous cheers from festivalgoers. Attempting to work a Beau Webster delivery from off to leg, Labuschagne succeeded only in finding Cameron Bancroft, strategically placed at leg gully. Undone by smart cricket, Glamorgan’s best batsman trudged disconsolately back to the pavilion, having made 119 from 165 balls.
Gloucestershire took the new ball soon afterwards, but new batsman Chris Cooke and Northeast stood firm, reaching lunch on 3414. Cooke was unable to hold on for much longer, though, with Taylor locating his outside edge and Bracey taking a diving catch behind the stumps to reduce the visitors to 348-5.
Northeast went to his hundred from 162 balls, raising his 15th four with a leg glance off Singh Dale. He found a reliable partner in Dan Douthwaite, who not only defended stoutly, but also put away the bad ball with sufficient regularity to keep the required rate below four an over.
Gloucestershire spirits were beginning to sag when skipper Graeme van Buuren introduced Ollie Price from the College Lawn end and the off spinner made a much-needed breakthrough, persuading Douthwaite, who had scored 39 in a sixth-wicket stand of 105, to drive to cover with the score on 453.