Match report provided by the ECB Reporters' Network.
DAY FOUR
Gloucestershire's long wait for a Vitality County Championship victory on home soil continued as their Second Division match against Middlesex at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol petered out into a draw.
On a day which began with all three results still possible, Middlesex did their utmost to force a result by declaring their second innings on 449-7 and setting the home side a target of 339 to win in 58 overs on a hybrid pitch offering negligible assistance to the bowlers.
The visitors still fancied they had an outside chance of prevailing when reducing their opponents to 102-3 in the final session with 27 overs still available, but Ollie Price displayed resilience in compiling an unbeaten 52 as Gloucestershire reached 127-3 to frustrate London ambition.
Resuming their second innings on 262-3, Middlesex had earlier played positively in adding a further 187 in 36 overs, Ryan Higgins top-scoring with 155 and sharing in a stand of 202 for the fourth wicket with Max Holden, who contributed 111. Stephen Eskinazi's breezy 65 not out prompted the declaration, which came half an hour into the afternoon session.
Forced to contend with a cold and blustery wind and battleship grey skies - hardly conditions conducive to a successful run chase - Gloucestershire were never in a position to realistically pursue a first red ball win since September 2022. Their 11-point haul from this game saw Middlesex overtake Sussex and assume leadership of the table after four matches, while Gloucestershire collected 13 points to move off the bottom.
Starting the day with a handy lead of 143, Middlesex were intent upon hastening to a point where they could declare their second innings and set Gloucestershire a target. As such, Holden and Higgins picked up where they left off the previous evening, going for their shots and looking to carry the attack to the bowlers.
When Holden slashed at one delivery outside off stump too many and was held by Ollie Price at second slip off the bowling of Ajeet Singh Dale, the fourth wicket partnership stood at 201 from 39.4 overs. Having added just six runs to his overnight tally, Holden fell on 111, his transformative innings spanning 154 balls and containing 15 fours and a six.
Undeterred by the departure of his long-time partner, the ebullient Higgins went to 150 in the grand manner, hoisting Graeme van Buuren high over deep mid-wicket and into the car park for his fifth maximum. He was out to the next ball, again attempting to hit Gloucestershire's captain out of the ground and skying a catch to mid-off.
In terms of it's longevity, this latest innings might not have matched the career-best 221 Higgins compiled against Glamorgan at Lord's three weeks earlier, but it certainly exerted a more profound impact upon proceedings. Having arrived in the middle on day three with Middlesex in some discomfort at 79-3, he departed with the score on 352-5 and the visitors in a position to dictate terms for the first time in the contest.
Gloucestershire trailed by 234 when they took the new ball which realistically represented their last opportunity to wrest back control of the game. Marchant de Lange and Singh Dale bent their backs,
only for the flow of runs to continue as Eskinazi and Jack Davies joined forces in a progressive alliance of 45 in nine overs. Davies eventually holed out to mid-on off the bowling of De Lange, but only after plundering 5 fours and a six to put a dent in the South African's figures.
Deploying a characteristically unorthodox approach, Eskinazi contributed an unbeaten 65 from 96 balls with 8 fours, his innings a hit and miss affair that served to raise the tempo. Gloucestershire's best efforts with the new ball would have done little to encourage the Middlesex bowlers in the belief that they could take 10 wickets on a hybrid pitch to win the game, but the declaration arrived nevertheless, Leus du Plooy calling the batsmen in with the scoreboard on 449-7 shortly after lunch.
Required to score at a little under six an over, Gloucestershire's batsmen were no doubt mindful of the alarming second innings collapse that sent them spiraling to defeat at the hands of Sussex in their last game. When Chris Dent succumbed to a leg-side strangle at the hands of Tom Helm without scoring in the second over, the home side could have been excused for harbouring negative thoughts.
Any fears of a repeat performance were allayed by Cameron Bancroft and Price, the second wicket pair proving reassuringly obdurate in the face of testing spells from Helm and Henry Brookes to see Gloucestershire through to the tea interval at 69-1.
Although the prospect of the home side scoring a further 262 runs to win in the final session remained no better than notional, there appeared to be precious little in the hybrid pitch to offer Middlesex any encouragement. Clearly undeterred, Helm removed Bancroft for 32 shortly after tea, locating the Australian's outside edge and presenting an opportunity for du Plooy to demonstrate his athleticism at second slip.
Price was fortunate to survive when dropped by Eskinazi at first slip off the bowling of Ethan Bamber, but the seamer breathed new life into the contest when inducing Miles Hammond to pull straight to mid-wicket soon afterwards. When Price and James Bracey proved obdurate, the two sides shook hands at 5.25pm with 18.3 overs unused.
DAY THREE
Centuries from Max Holden and Ryan Higgins dug Middlesex out of a hole on the third day of the Vitality County Championship Second Division match with Gloucestershire at Bristol.
Having conceded a first innings lead of 119 by bowling out their opponents for 322 from an overnight 271 for six, the visitors slipped to nine for two in their second innings before Holden (105 not out), Leus du Plooy (30) and Higgins (102 not out) launched a powerful fightback.
By the close, Middlesex had posted 262 for three, Holden and Higgins sharing an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 183, and had a lead of 143, leaving all three results possible on the final day. Holden had faced 157 balls, hitting 14 fours and a six, while Higgins smashed 13 fours and 3 sixes in facing 120 deliveries against his former club.
Middlesex needed to make good use of the second new ball, available when play began an hour late due because of overnight rain,, to restrict Gloucestershire’s first innings lead on the hybrid pitch offering more bounce than usual at the Seat Unique Stadium.
Ben Charlesworth, batting with Ollie Price as runner because of an ankle injury sustained on day one, produced two textbook straight drives off Tom Helm, while Zaman Akhter exploited the cover region.
The pair had extended their seventh-wicket stand to 71 when with Akhter, on 27, tried one drive too many and was bowled by Helm failing to get to the pitch of a good length delivery. It proved Middlesex’s only success in the hour before lunch, which was reached with Gloucestershire 314 for seven, 111 runs in front.
The hosts were unable to build at the start of the afternoon session as Henry Brookes struck three times in an over. Charlesworth started the slide attempting a big hit and only skying to mid-off where Holden took a fine tumbling catch.
Marchant de Lange swung in trademark fashion and also skied a catch off his third ball, wicketkeeper Jack Davies taking the catch, before Dom Goodman edged a catch to third slip to end the innings
Soon Gloucestershire’s seamers were making inroads on a much livelier pitch than they have been used to operating on in home games. Nathan Fernandes had made only five when caught at mid-wicket pulling a short ball from Goodman.
It was nine for two when Mark Stoneman departed for a duck, caught behind driving at a wide delivery from Ajeet Singh Dale and du Plooy came in to face a testing examination, edging his first ball from Singh Dale just short of the slip cordon.
In one over from Akhter, the Middlesex skipper needed treatment after being hit on a hand and was then struck again by the first delivery after resuming his innings. Another over from the same bowler saw him survive three confident lbw appeals.
Holden defiantly pulled de Lange for four then six as he and du Plooy gradually doused the Gloucestershire fire. But having helped take the total to 66 for two at tea, they added only 13 more before du Plooy, who had drawn applause from the bowler when hitting de Lange back over his head for a huge six, was brilliantly caught by Chris Dent at backward point to give Goodman a second wicket.
Holden moved to a priceless half-century, off 83 balls, and together with Higgins, took Middlesex into the lead with seven wickets still in hand. Momentum was now with the batting side and when spin was introduced the pair first milked singles off Graeme van Buuren to increase the scoring rate and then went on the attack, Higgins hitting Price for a six and a four in the same over.
The sun was out and all venom had gone out of the bowling as Higgins marked his return to a former stamping ground by bringing up a chanceless fifty off 73 balls. On 62, he was dropped by van Buuren at mid-wicket off Price
Holden reached his ton off 151 balls, with 13 fours and a six and Higgins followed to three figures with a pulled six off Singh Dale. Now Middlesex will fancy their chances of a last day declaration and an improbably victory.
Image credit: Robbie Stephenson
DAY TWO
Miles Hammond and Graeme van Buuren registered half centuries as Gloucestershire assumed a position of strength on day two of the Vitality County Championship Second Division match against Middlesex at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol.
Responding to the visitors' first-innings 203, the home side advanced their score to 271-6, a first-innings lead of 68, on a day when 45 overs were lost to rain and bad light. Hammond batted with authority to top-score with an assured 81, while skipper van Buuren contributed a season's best 75, the fifth wicket pair staging a meaningful alliance of 118 in 27 overs to afford Gloucestershire a potentially crucial advantage.
Ben Charlesworth and Zaman Akhter then served up further defiance in an unbroken partnership of 38 for the seventh wicket as the home side made the most of the 52 overs available to improve their position after the first session had been washed out.
Ethan Bamber and Tom Helm have taken two wickets apiece so far and, with more poor weather forecast for the third day, Middlesex will be heavily dependent upon these two when the new ball is taken in the morning.
When Gloucestershire eventually resumed their first innings on 82-3 beneath leaden skies, the ball was still doing enough to keep the Middlesex seam quartet interested. Like Marchant de Lange on the first day, Helm used his height to extract additional bounce and movement off the pitch, finding James Bracey's outside edge and providing the opportunity for Ryan Higgins to take a fine diving catch at third slip with the score on 113.
Bracey departed for 16 and, with Charlesworth inconvenienced by an ankle injury and forced to drop down the order, the home side suddenly appeared vulnerable. Forced temporarily onto the back foot, Hammond and new batsman van Buuren were subjected to a test of their technique and temperament as Helm, Bamber and Higgins strained every sinew in an attempt to build upon their early breakthrough.
But Gloucestershire's fifth wicket pair proved obdurate, combining stoical defiance with deft placement and quick running between the wickets to see off the threat and keep the scoreboard turning. As overhead conditions eased, the ball softened and the pitch flattened out, so Hammond and van Buuren became more assertive.
Hammond was first to 50, the 28-year-old left-hander going to that landmark from 67 balls with his eighth boundary, a handsome cover drive at the expense of Helm. Having posted two half centuries in the last match against Sussex at Hove without managing to convert either into a truly substantial score, Hammond appeared determined to stamp his authority on this occasion. With the exception of a loose drive off Josh de Caires, which fell just short of mid-on, he did not give the bowlers a sniff of a chance during a productive afternoon session.
Playing more fluently following an uncertain start, van Buuren posted a statement of intent when hoisting Bamber for six over backward square before pulling the same bowler for four to go to his half century from 56 balls. Hammond pulled Helm over deep mid-wicket for six as he warmed to his task and his burgeoning partnership with his captain was worth 118 as Gloucestershire reached the tea interval handily-placed on 231-4, a lead of 28.
Staring down the barrel of a potentially damaging first-innings deficit, Middlesex then received an unexpected double helping hand at the start of the final session, Hammond and van Buuren succumbing to soft dismissals and departing within the space of nine balls.
Within sight of his fourth first-class hundred, Hammond suffered a loss of concentration, driving at a widish deliver from Bamber and nicking the first ball after tea to Leus du Plooy at second slip. It was an anti-climactic end to an innings that had yielded 81 runs from 111 balls with 9 fours and a six. Middlesex could scarcely believe their good fortune when, in the very next over, van Buuren mis-judged the length of a ball from De Caires and was bowled in the act of pulling, departing the scene for a 103-ball 75.
Their expectations necessarily tempered and with two new batsmen at the crease, Gloucestershire's earlier authority had been undermined. But Akhter and Charlesworth, the latter batting with Ollie Price as a runner, frustrated Middlesex in surviving for 15.3 overs and adding 38 runs for the seventh wicket before bad light forced the players off.
More comfortable playing off the back foot, the injured Charlesworth plundered three boundaries to advance his score to 21 not out, while Akhter, emboldened by a career-best unbeaten 45 against Sussex last time out, reached 16 as Gloucestershire progressed their score to 271-6.
If De Caires kept things reasonably tight and one end, fellow spinner du Plooy proved expensive when conceding 10 runs off one over as the light began to fail. Not surprisingly, when skipper du Plooy opted to take the new ball and press his frontline seamers back into action, umpires Neil Pratt and Surendiran Shanmugam decided to call a premature halt to proceedings with 25 overs remaining.
DAY ONE
Gloucestershire seamer Marchant de Lange notched his 350th first class wicket in claiming six for 49 to skittle Middlesex for 203 on the opening day of the Vitality County Championship Second Division match at Bristol.
The 33-year-old South African only took six Championship wickets in the whole of last summer, his first with Gloucestershire, which saw his season ended in early June by a thigh injury that required surgery.
Now fit and firing again, de Lange bowled 16 rapid overs from the Ashley Down Road End and ripped through the heart of the Middlesex batting, only Josh De Caires (37) and former Gloucestershire all-rounder Ryan Higgins (30) showing much resistance.
By the the time bad light ended play 6.2 overs early, the home side had replied with 82 for three, Ollie Price making 33 and Miles Hammond 25 not out.
For a time at the start of the day it looked a good toss for Middlesex to have lost as Mark Stoneman and Nathan Fernandes took advantage of unusually short boundaries at the Seat Unique Stadium to put together an opening stand of 55 in 14 overs.
Then three wickets fell in the space of 18 balls. Stoneman was bowled between bat and pad by Zaman Akhter for 29, Max Holden edged a high slip catch to Price off de Lange and Fernandes, on 24, nicked through to wicketkeeper James Bracey to become de Lange’s 350th victim in his 104th first class game.
Leus du Plooy and Higgins did their best to steady the Middlesex ship and took the score to 105 for three at lunch. But soon after the interval du Plooy attempted to withdraw the bat from a Dom Goodman delivery and feathered a catch through to Bracey.
Stephen Eskinazi survived a couple of edges into the slip cordon, but had made only 11 when being taken at gully driving at Goodman to make it 127 for five. On the same score, Higgins edged a defensive back-off shot off de Lange to Cameron Bancroft at second slip.
Bancroft held another slip chance on a cold overcast afternoon to send back Jack Davies and give de Lange his fourth wicket, but De Caires and Tom Helm then managed to arrest the slide with a stand of 58 inside 16 overs.
The return of de Lange accounted for both, Helm bowled leg stump by a full delivery for 22 and De Caires falling to catch at mid-wicket off a top-edged pull shot in the same over. Henry Brookes departed to the left-arm spin of Gloucestershire skipper Graeme van Buuren, offering a stinging return catch, and Middlesex had been bowled out inside 60 overs on a pitch offering no more than routine first day seam movement.
Gloucestershire’s reply got off to a poor start when Chris Dent, due to rest a back injury, but called into the side when Zafar Gohar was injured in the warm-up, was bowled for three by a full delivery from Ethan Bamber.
Bantcroft and Price both needed moments of fortune in adding 38 for the second wicket before Bancroft dragged a wide delivery from Higgins onto his stumps and fell for 12. With the light closing in, Price was caught behind fending at a short ball from Helm and Middlesex had gone some way towards making up for a poor batting display.
Gloucestershire
Middlesex
