Gloucestershire and Lancashire play-out weather-affected draw

Matt Taylor took five wickets while Keaton Jennings and Rob Jones struck half-centuries but a result was not possible after two-and-a-half days were lost to a wet outfield

Cheltenham (fourth day of four): Gloucestershire 205 & 68-2, Lancashire 244 - Match Drawn

Scorecard

Matt Taylor claimed career-best figures of 5-57 as Gloucestershire’s County Championship Division Two match against Lancashire at Cheltenham ended in a draw, after days two and three were lost to a wet outfield.

Gloucestershire had reached 68 for 2 by 4.50pm, when the sides shook hands after an eventful match which will be remembered for the freak storm on the first night.

The hosts' opening pair, Miles Hammond (80) and captain Chris Dent, who reached 8,000 first-class runs during his innings, had put on 55 in 25 overs on the first day as the home side reached 205 in their first innings. Dent, who compiled a half-century, and Jack Taylor added 83 for the fifth wicket.

Twenty-two-year-old England Lions seamer Saqib Mahmood had been the stand-out bowler on the first day, picking up 4-48, with Hammond scoring 82.

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Lancashire had lost Haseeb Hameed and Jake Lehmann, with David Payne conceding just four runs in an eight-over spell, meaning they resumed the final day on 47 for 2.

They began day four with a flurry, before being reduced to 149 for 5 at lunch.

Twenty-three-year old Rob Jones dealt in boundaries, striking a four from the first delivery of the day, as he and Keaton Jennings doubled their side’s score within the first hour and he brought up his half-century from 70 deliveries, with nine fours.

But they fell in successive Matt Taylor overs, as Jones was caught behind, before Jennings was caught at slip for 52, having just reached his half-century from 141 balls. Dane Vilas gave Roderick a second catch and Taylor a third wicket, as the visitors went from 105 for two to 126 for five in just six overs.

^{Jones top-scored for Lancashire as they edged along}

After losing Liam Livingston five balls into the afternoon, Steven Croft and Tom Bailey led the visitors’ recovery as they gained a first batting point before bringing up their fifty partnership.

Taylor claimed his fifth wicket when he had Saqib Mahmood caught behind. Croft then drove at David Payne at mid-off from Ryan Higgins, who almost picked up a second wicket in two balls when a Jimmy Anderson edge fell just short of the slip cordon, surviving a similar delivery in the following over before despatching Taylor over the Chapel End boundary for the first and only maximum of the match.

Payne rounded off the Lancashire innings, when he had Richard Gleeson caught at slip, with an early tea taken.

Gloucestershire began their second innings 39 runs adrift, and lost Hammond in the 10th over when he was caught at slip off Bailey. James Bracey, glancing down the legside, was caught behind off Richard Gleeson in the 18th over, by which time the home side were marginally ahead.

Courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network

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