RESULT
Midlands/Wales/West Group, Northampton, July 08, 2012, Friends Life t20
(8.3/8.3 ov) 31/4
(2.2/5 ov, T:23) 23/2

Gloucs won by 8 wickets (with 16 balls remaining) (D/L method)

Player Of The Match
2/6
ian-saxelby
Report

Saxelby books quarter-final place

Ian Saxelby took two wickets as Gloucestershire booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Friends Life T20 with a rain-affected eight-wicket win over Northamptonshire.

08-Jul-2012
Gloucestershire 23 for 2 beat Northamptonshire 31 for 4 by eight wickets (D/L method)
Scorecard
Ian Saxelby took two wickets as Gloucestershire booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Friends Life T20 with a rain-affected eight-wicket win over Northamptonshire.
In their first match since the departure of head coach David Capel, Northamptonshire were reduced to 31 for four before rain curtailed their innings, with Saxelby taking two for six from two overs.
The Gladiators were given a revised target of 23 from five overs and, unsurprisingly, this did not prove difficult as they took just 14 balls to reach it.
It allowed them to overtake Warwickshire in the group standings after their defeat to Glamorgan to qualify alongside Somerset and Worcestershire.
The result also means Northamptonshire finish bottom of the group with just a solitary win and they have now gone two years without a home victory in the competition.
Gloucestershire won the toss and chose to field and they claimed the wicket of Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely (two) in the second over when James Fuller took out his off stump.
David Willey (five) followed by launching Saxelby to Gladiators captain Hamish Marshall at mid-on before Cameron White (four) edged the same man to wicketkeeper Jonathan Batty with the very next ball.
The players were then taken off for rain at the end of the fifth over with the Steelbacks struggling on 14 for three and their hopes of a first home t20 win since July 2010 fading.
Play resumed 45 minutes later with no overs lost but Rob Newton soon departed for 12 when he was caught and bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan.
Rain again forced the players off, only this time it was more persistent and this meant the end of the hosts' foundering innings.
Chasing just 23 from the minimum five overs, Gloucestershire lost former New Zealand international Marshall from the first ball when he was trapped lbw by Willey.
Willey then ran out Australia batsman Ed Cowan from point after an aborted single off David Burton in the second over.
But the winning run came with the second ball of the third over via a leg bye from the thigh of Ian Cockbain off the bowling of Lee Daggett.

AskESPNcricinfo Logo
Instant answers to T20 questions
Gloucs Innings
<1 / 3>
Friends Life t20
Midlands/Wales/West Group
TEAMMWLPTNRR
SOM1052130.275
GLOUC1042120.248
WORCS1043110.578
WARKS104311-0.033
GLAM10239-0.708
NHNTS10174-0.611
North Group
TEAMMWLPTNRR
YORKS1071160.863
NOTTS1051141.877
DURH104410-0.251
LANCS103490.106
DERBS10266-0.561
LEICS10275-1.352
South Group
TEAMMWLPTNRR
SUSS1061151.389
HANTS1052130.693
ESSEX105411-0.032
KENT10459-0.465
MIDDX10376-0.210
SURR10376-0.700