Gloucestershire seamers dismantle Essex

Gloucestershire 255 (Roderick 61, Miles 55, Quinn 7-76, Porter 3-67) and 290 (Roderick 102, Dent 72, Klinger 53*, Napier 4-62, Quinn 4-87) beat Essex 333 (Lawrence 127, ten Doeschate 52, Shaw 4-72) and 151 (Norwell 4-65, Miles 3-26, Payne 3-40) by 61 runs
Scorecard

Gloucestershire's seamers bowled them to a 61-run County Championship win over Division Two leaders Essex at Cheltenham.

Starting out on 16 for 1, requiring a further 197 for victory, the visitors crashed to 152 all out by early afternoon, with Liam Norwell, David Payne and Craig Miles all profiting from the overcast conditions.

Norwell claimed four wickets in the innings, while Payne and Miles took three each, maintaining an exemplary line and length to put constant pressure on the batsmen.

The result catapulted Gloucestershire into the promotion race as they took 21 points to the six earned by Essex. They now trail the leaders by only 11 points, with a game in hand.

Norwell removed nightwatchman Jamie Porter with the first ball of the day, Gareth Roderick holding a thin edge at the second attempt, and followed up by having Tom Westley caught at first slip for 17 before left-armer Payne pinned Nick Browne lbw, pushing forward.

Miles then claimed a split-innings hat-trick when bowling Ravi Bopara for 3, shouldering arms, with his first ball of the day, having also struck with his final two deliveries of the first innings.

He followed up by dismissing Dan Lawrence, who drove a catch to extra cover and Ryan ten Doeschate, caught behind, in a six-over spell of 3 for 26.

"My dad had mentioned to me that I was on a hat-trick after the first innings and Hamish Marshall reminded me before I ran in to bowl my first ball today," Miles said. "I gave it everything and it was a great feeling, whether it was spread over a few overs or not. I've never taken a hat-trick in any form of cricket.

"The ball I took the last wicket with is the one I get to keep and have mounted. But it was a real team effort by the bowlers. Liam Norwell and David Payne probably deserve a ball each too."

Essex did their best to be positive, but the quality of the bowling, with the ball swinging and seaming off the pitch, allowed Gloucestershire to dominate the morning session.

James Foster pulled Norwell for a defiant six in the final over before lunch, but then edged a wide delivery through to wicketkeeper Roderick and departed for 7.

That left Essex 124 for 8 at lunch, still requiring 89 runs, with spots of rain in the air. The afternoon session saw only one run added before Graham Napier edged a defensive shot off Payne to give Roderick his fourth catch.

Ashar Zaidi smacked Norwell for a six over wide long-on, but the following ball saw the left-hander, on 37, get an inside edge onto his stumps and it was all over at just before 2.15pm.

That gave Norwell 4 for 65 from 16.3 overs, while Payne finished with 3 for 40 and Miles on his lunch figures of 3 for 26. It was a high class bowling effort on a day Essex began as favourites.