da bwin： Chris Taylor and Will Gidman, plus a big helping hand from the weather, enabledGloucestershire to earn a draw against Essex in their County Championshipclash at Colchester
20-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Chris Taylor and Will Gidman, plus a big helping hand from the weather, enabledGloucestershire to earn a draw against Essex in their County Championshipclash at Colchester.After being set a huge victory target of 388 in 88 overs, the visitors finishedon 231 for 5, with Taylor striking an unbeaten 103 and Gidman making 57 in anunbroken stand of 133 spanning 106 minutes.They had come together with their side on 98 for five and went on to defy asuccession of bowling changes to guide their team to safety, although raindeprived Essex of 28 overs in which to force a victory that would have keptalive their slender promotion aspirations. The visitors’ hopes of launching their victory bid on a sound footing were soon dashed.Richard Coughtrie departed without a run on the board, caught in the slips byRyan ten Doeschate off the bowling of Maurice Chambers, and David Masters snaredtwo more wickets before the 50 was raised.Kane Williamson was caught behind by James Foster for 19 and then Tom Westley’ssafe pair of hands at second slip accounted for opener Chris Dent (16). Gloucestershire avoided further mishap before lunch, taken at 71 for three, but were plunged into further trouble immediately afterwards by Graham Napier.First he had skipper Alex Gidman (18) easily caught by wicketkeeper Foster froma thin edge and then breached the defences of Hamish Marshall (seven) to leavethe stumps in disarray. By this stage, with half of their side back in the pavilion cheaply, the bestthe visitors could hope for was a draw. A total of 62 overs still remained, withtheir last recognised pair together.Taylor, having come in at the fall of the second wicket, was now wellentrenched and completed a fighting half-century that contained half a dozenfours. At the other end, Will Gidman was offering obdurate support as they carried thetotal to 131 before rain forced a suspension in play.When play did resume, Essex were left with 22 overs to try to force victory butTaylor and Gidman denied them with considerable ease whilst putting together anunbroken partnership of 133.Earlier in the day, Essex added a further 45 runs from six overs beforedeclaring on 288 for five immediately after Jaik Mickleburgh was run out for 84- a knock that included eight boundaries. Skipper Foster finished unbeaten on 46from 40 balls, but not before he was involved in the final of several heatedincidents in this match.It featured Jon Lewis, who appeared to obstruct Foster as he completed asingle. Angry words were exchanged before umpire Steve Gale stepped between thetwo players and the game continued.On the second day, Alex Gidman had angrily remonstrated with the same officialafter being given out lbw whilst on the opening day, Gale had reversed hisdecision against Ten Doeschate – much to the annoyance of the Gloucestershireplayers. Essex finished with 10 points and Gloucestershire eight points.