Sat 8 - Tue 11 Aug, 11:00
Match Report: Gloucestershire v Warwickshire, Bob Willis Trophy
Day Four report: Gloucestershire won by 78 runs
All-rounder Ryan Higgins struck three times in an over on his way to career-best figures of seven for 42 as Gloucestershire clinched a 78-run Bob Willis Trophy victory over Warwickshire at the Bristol County Ground.
The former Middlesex player claimed wickets with the first, third and sixth deliveries of his second over with the new ball to reduce the visitors to four for three in their second innings, chasing a victory target of 239 from a minimum of 65 overs.
Warwickshire never fully recovered and were eventually dismissed for 160, Matt Taylor removing Alex Thomson and Henry Brookes with successive deliveries to finish with two for 27.
Skipper Will Rhodes top-scored with 48, while Higgins ended with match figures of 11 for 96 as Gloucestershire took 20 points and Warwickshire four.
It was all rather hard on Oliver Hannon-Dalby, who earlier in the day had completed even more impressive match figures of 12 for 110 by claiming all four wickets after Gloucestershire had resumed on 197 for six in their second innings.
Jack Taylor, unbeaten on 23 overnight, fell lbw for 34 in Hannon-Dalby’s opening spell and the tall seamer later returned to clean up the tail with the second new ball.
Tom Smith was leg-before for six after a stand of 36 with George Scott and it was 267 for nine when Josh Shaw was bowled for 11.
Last man Matt Taylor came out to hit successive boundaries off Hannon-Dalby, who then took revenge by having him caught in the slips by Tim Bresnan. Scott ended 44 not out, a crucial contribution to a total of 275 on his debut for the hosts.
Lunch was taken before Warwickshire began their second innings. Whatever Higgins tucked into is sure to be on the menu at Gloucestershire’s next home game.
His second over proved a triple wicket maiden as he had Rob Yates caught off a leading edge for two and quickly followed up by dismissing Sam Hain leg-before and Ian Bell caught behind.
Warwickshire were in disarray. Rhodes and Matt Lamb staged a partial recovery and had taken the score to 50 in the 19th over when Lamb was bowled for 14 by a full delivery from Josh Shaw.
Rhodes was unbeaten on 48 at tea. But Higgins again emerged from an interval inspired and struck with the first ball of the evening session, the Warwickshire captain nicking a low leg-side catch to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick.
At 80 for five, the visitors had the choice of continuing the run-chase or trying to bat out for a draw. The latter became a more obvious course when Michael Burgess departed lbw to Higgins for 15 with the total on 101.
Taylor then struck his double blow, helped by a strange choice of shot in the circumstances from Alex Thomson, who pulled a short ball straight to the bowler’s brother Jack Taylor at deep square and fell for three.
The next delivery saw Brookes trapped leg-before for his second duck of the game and, with the score 104 for eight, Gloucestershire had 23 overs to claim the last two wickets.
Their former player Craig Miles was brilliantly caught low at first slip by Chris Dent for 12 to give Higgins a sixth wicket.
Last man Hannon-Dalby and the stubborn Bresnan battled away for almost 12 overs, but it was all over when Hannon-Dalby edged Higgins through to Roderick with a possible 4.5 overs remaining.
Day Three
Half-centuries from Graeme van Buuren and Ryan Higgins kept Gloucestershire hopes alive on the third day of the Bob Willis Trophy match against Warwickshire at the Bristol County Ground.
The home side looked in deep trouble when slipping to 30 for three in the morning session, having conceded a first innings deficit 37 when bowling out their opponents for 247 from an overnight 230 for eight.
But van Buuren (72) and Higgins (51) then shared a defiant fourth-wicket stand of 110 either side of lunch, which enabled Gloucestershire to reach 197 for six by the time bad light ended play eight overs early, a lead of 160.
All results remain possible on day four, but in the end the only winner could be the slow pitch, which has made the match hard work for batsmen and bowlers alike.
The day began with all-rounder Higgins completing figures of four for 54 by claiming both remaining Warwickshire wickets from the Ashley Down Road End. Tim Bresnan was caught behind for 38 and last man Oliver Hannon-Dalby taken at second slip for a duck.
Hannon-Dalby then followed up his career-best figures of six for 33 in the first innings by pinning Ben Charlesworth lbw, playing no shot, for 14 and having George Hankins well caught low down at first slip by Bresnan for a duck.
Bresnan had already removed Gloucestershire captain Chris Dent, bowled off an inside edge without scoring, and it was tough going for the home side, who were still seven runs behind when van Buuren and Higgins came together.
The pair took the score to 51 for three at lunch and prospered in the afternoon session, van Buuren moving to a gutsy fifty off 99 balls, with 8 fours.
Warwickshire’s bowlers appeared to be getting frustrated when Henry Brookes struck a morale-boosting double blow just before tea.
First he picked up the wicket of van Buuren with the total on 140, Sam Hain pouching a low catch at second slip to end an innings occupying 132 balls and featuring 11 crisply-struck fours.
Higgins also went on to his half-century and had faced 101 deliveries, hitting nine boundaries, when superbly caught down the leg side by diving wicketkeeper Michael Burgess off Brookes in the final over of the session to make it 155 for five.
With two new batsmen at the crease, Gloucestershire needed to be watchful after tea. Gareth Roderick and Jack Taylor took the score to 190 before Roderick, on 13, lost concentration and carelessly drove a low catch to Matt Lamb at cover off the bowling of Craig Miles.
There followed a period of nine overs from Bresnan and Miles in which only one run was scored. Taylor, who had taken 32 balls to get off the mark in the first innings, again showed an obdurate side to his normally aggressive game.
George Scott, on his Gloucestershire debut, was equally content with survival and the game seemed to be going nowhere when the umpires called a halt, with Taylor unbeaten on 23 and Scott having scored two off 31 balls.
Soon it was raining at the end of a day of sultry heat and hopes of a restart were dashed.
Day Two
Olly Hannon-Dalby and Matt Lamb led the way as Warwickshire edged their way to a narrow advantage over Gloucestershire on an attritional second day of their Bob Willis Trophy match at Bristol.
After Hannon-Dalby’s career-best six for 33 restricted the home side to 210 all out, Lamb’s hard-fought 65 (137 balls, 12 fours) underpinned the Bears’ progress to 230 for eight at the close.
In tricky batting conditions, a slow pitch offering some help to the seamers, Lamb batted with great skill and patience to extend the resistance launched by captain Will Rhodes (41,107 balls, six fours) up top. Their work built on the platform set down by another excellent, big-hearted performance from Hannon-Dalby who took the final two wickets in the morning to finish with 23.3-11-33-6.
With batting conditions not easing, a lead of even 50, if the Bears can press on tomorrow, could be very significant.
After Gloucestershire resumed on 191 for eight, Hannon-Dalby quickly added the wickets of tail-enders Josh Shaw and Matt Taylor. Shaw chipped a catch to sub fielder Dan Mousley at cover, then a fine delivery uprooted Taylor’s middle stump.
The Yorkshireman’s spell of two for nine in 21 balls completed his first six-for in first class cricket and his sixth haul of five-or-more wickets.
In reply, the Bears lost Rob Yates to the third ball of the innings when he edged Ryan Higgins to the wicketkeeper. Sam Hain soon fell lbw to Matt Taylor but Rhodes and Ian Bell played watchfully to add 40 and take their side to the brink of lunch before the latter edged the last ball before the interval, from George Scott, to second slip.
The afternoon session brought the Bears a solid 78 for one in 31 overs. Rhodes and Lamb knuckled down to add 38 in 17 overs until Ben Charlesworth’s fourth ball yorked Rhodes. Michael Burgess then joined Lamb and the pair continued the recovery with a stand of 69 in 20 overs.
Lamb had just reached his half-century (105 balls) when Burgess (28, 55 balls, five fours) aimed a big drive at Scott and played on.
Tim Bresnan (34 not out, 78 balls) offered further resolute support to Lamb whose three hours 14 minutes of resistance ended when he edged a good one from Higgins into the cordon, evidence that, however long you bat on this pitch, you are never truly ‘in’.
Bresnan and Alex Thomson concentrated hard to take the Bears in front but Gloucestershire hit back hard in the penultimate over of the day when Taylor bowled Thomson (offering no shot) and Brookes.
Day One
Oliver Hannon-Dalby led a tireless Warwickshire bowling performance in strength-sapping conditions on the opening day of the Bob Willis Trophy match with Gloucestershire at Bristol.
The tall seamer toiled away with precision in relentless heat to claim four for 24 from 20 overs as the home side were restricted to 191 for eight after being asked to bat first, Ben Charlesworth top-scoring with 51.
Hannon-Dalby received excellent support from skipper Will Rhodes (three for 18) and the rest of the Warwickshire attack on a slow pitch that ensured hard work for batsmen and bowlers alike.
Run-scoring was never easy and 19-year-old Charlesworth deserved plenty of credit for his 124-ball innings that featured 6 fours.
He lost opening partner Chris Dent with the total on nine. The Gloucestershire captain got a thin edge through to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess off Hannon-Dalby, having made only two.
Hannon-Dalby went on to complete a probing six-over opening spell from the Ashley Down Road End, which cost him only six runs and included four maidens.
Tim Bresnan was equally accurate at the Pavilion End. But Charlesworth and Graeme van Buuren batted sensibly and gradually increased the tempo in a stand of 67, ended when van Buuren, on 33, edged former Gloucestershire team-mate Craig Miles to Ian Bell at third slip.
It was 83 for two at lunch, with left-hander Charlesworth unbeaten on 39. He and George Hankins took the total to 102 before Rhodes introduced himself at the Pavilion End as the sixth bowler used.
In his first over he had Charlesworth well caught low down by Sam Hain in the slips to end a hugely promising knock from the England Under-19 player, including some swashbuckling back-foot shots through the off-side.
Rhodes’ breakthrough sparked a collapse as Hannon-Dalby quickly followed up with lbw verdicts against Hankins and Ryan Higgins.
Suddenly the hosts were in serious trouble at 103 for five. Gareth Roderick and Jack Taylor were forced into watchful defence to stop the rot, the normally aggressive Taylor taking 32 balls to get off the mark.
The pair took the score to 127 for five at tea, but the afternoon session had produced only 44 runs from 28 overs.
Taylor, on 14, became Rhodes’ second victim when lbw pushing forward with the score on 155, and the Warwickshire skipper struck again five runs later when Roderick was brilliantly stumped down the leg side by Burgess, having contributed a solid 39 off 108 balls.
Hannon-Dalby claimed his fourth wicket when George Scott, making his Gloucestershire debut following his move from Middlesex last autumn, fell leg-before having confidently moved to 17.
Bresnan, who conceded 39 from 15 overs, and Miles, who went for 41 from 19 helped contain the Gloucestershire batsmen, while Henry Brookes recovered from a relatively expensive first spell to bowl his 17 overs for 52.
It was an impressive effort from the Warwickshire seam bowling unit under cloudless skies, justifying Rhodes’ decision to field first.
Tom Smith was unbeaten on 15 at stumps, having battled away for 59 balls. He and Josh Shaw will resume in the morning with nine runs needed for a batting point.
