Gidman joins greats in big win

Will Gidman became just the fifth Gloucestershire player to take 10 wickets and score a century in the same match as he almost single-handedly rolled Leicestershire over by an innings and 138 runs inside three days at Bristol.

Gidman had Gloucestershire members reaching for the record books as he added his name alongside WG Grace, Charlie Townsend, Charlie Barnett and Mike Procter. Gidman was the first to achieve the feat for Gloucestershire at Nevil Road and came 33 years after Procter scored 108 and took 14 for 76 against Worcestershire at Cheltenham in 1980.

Enjoying outstanding form at the end of the season, Gidman claimed career-best figures of 6 for 15 and registered 143 in the first innings, he took 4 for 28 to finish with remarkable match figures of 10 for 43 as Leicestershire were dismissed for 261 in their second innings.

But it was a match to forget for lowly Leicestershire, who have now suffered innings defeats in four of their last five outings. Having seen off the new ball the previous evening, Ned Eckersley picked up where he left off to raise a half-century from just 47 balls after Leicestershire resumed on 60 for 1 on Thursday morning.

He produced some classic cover drives while accruing 14 fours and a six, and three figures appeared to be his for the asking, especially when he was dropped in the gully on 79 by Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger off the bowling of Benny Howell. But Tom Smith ensured the skipper's lapse was not a costly one, the slow left-armer extracting turn to bowl Eckersley for 84 a few overs later.

Having played second fiddle in a stand of 130 in 33 overs with Eckersley, Robson was one run short of a maiden first-class fifty when Gidman located his outside edge and Gareth Roderick took a routine catch behind the stumps to reduce the visitors to 155 for 3 shortly before lunch.

Gloucestershire made further inroads after the interval, Smith striking with the first ball of his second spell, pinning Foxes captain Matthew Boyce lbw for 19.

Craig Miles had the out-of-sorts Josh Cobb caught at the wicket for 6 and Shiv Thakor was run out for 17 by Howell's throw from backward point following a comical mix-up. Smith then returned at the Pavilion End to remove James Sykes, who was drawn onto the front foot and caught behind for 6 as the visitors subsided to 218 for 7.

Gloucestershire took the new ball after tea and Will Gidman struck almost immediately to remove Ben Raine in the act of driving, Klinger making a difficult catch appear straightforward at third slip.

Gidman bowled Matthew Hoggard for a duck in his next over from the Ashley Down Road End, at which point he had taken 9 for 39, eclipsing his previous best match figures of nine for 114. He bagged his 10th wicket in emphatic fashion, clean bowling Ollie Freckingham for 30 to bring matters to a premature conclusion.

Gloucestershire's fourth win of the campaign yielded a maximum 24 points, while Leicestershire took just two.