Yorkshire gain revenge over Gloucestershire

Yorkshire gained revenge over Gloucestershire for their three one-day defeats last season as the Phoenix beat the Gladiators by 35 runs under Duckworth Lewis. This rain affected match started 45 minutes late and after seven overs the rain drove the players off the field. When they returned the match was reduced to 33 overs each.

The first ball after restart from Cawdron bounced up at Fellows and hit the shoulder of his bat. The ball looped out of the reach of Alleyne at slip. After that the openers tried to attack the Gladiators bowlers, but the tight bowling was backed up by some keen fielding. The sight of Fellows dancing down the wicket to Cawdron prompted Russell to stand up to him.

Byas' eagerness to keep the scoreboard moving nearly resulted in the loss of the first wicket. He was halfway down the pitch before Fellows sent him back, luckily for Byas, Windows had thrown to wrong end.

The pair put on 77 before the partnership was broken when Fellows was leg before to Alleyne for 30. Byas and Blakey added 31 before Byas was stumped by Russell when he slipped out of his ground. Blakey together with Lehmann kept the scoreboard moving but like the openers they were unable to find the boundaries. But Lehmann did manage to hit a full toss from Averies for a six over square leg. After hitting Averies for four over long-on Lehmann was caught by Alleyne at short fine leg the next ball.

When the Yorkshire overs were up Blakey and Harden had taken the score to 160. Under Duckworth Lewis the Gladiators had to score 165 to win. They got off to the worst possible start. Opener Cunliffe was bowled by Hoggard to the second ball off the innings. Both Widows and Hancock looked shaky as they tried to settle the Gladiators reply. Windows had a life when he was dropped by Byas at wide first slip. The ball came to Byas at waist height and Windows had started to walk.

17 year old Garry Ramsden playing his first national league match took his first wicket with the last ball of his first over. He trapped Hancock leg before. Veteran Kim Barnett only made three when he was bowled by a full toss from Ramsden. Windows then had a wild slog at Hamilton and top edged the ball to Blakey.

Skipper Mark Alleyne was joined by Ian Harvey and they tried to build up a partnership to get the Gladiators back on track. However the match was as good as over when Alleyne pushed Middlebrook straight to Byas at mid-wicket.

Snape fell leg before to Middlebrook and in the same over Harvey was leg before to Middlebrook. Jack Russell swept Middlebrook straight to Hamilton but Cawdron had set off for a single and was halfway down the pitch before Russell set off. Russell was run out by yards.

When the Phoenix took the final Gladiators wicket they had 2.4 overs left and moved to the top of division one in both the National League and the County Championship.