BRACEY PUTS CHASE OUT OF NOTTS REACH
Gloucestershire qualified for the knockout stages of the Metro Bank Cup with a comfortable 52 run victory over Notts at Trent Bridge today. Leading the way was James Bracey who scored 186 (off 150 balls, 20x4, 6x6) the second highest ever score against Notts in List A cricket - Darren Lehmann's 191 for Yorkshire at Scarborough in 2001 remains the highest. The left hander destroyed the second string Notts attack on an easy paced excellent batting pitch.
Notts won the toss and elected to bowl on a cloudy day with the north westerly wind strengthening as the day progressed. Notts were hoping to have Dillon Pennington available but with Lockie Ferguson injured the Rockets recalled him so the only change was Sammy King replacing the unavailable Freddie McCann (Birmingham Phoenix) in the line-up.
Hutton (Radcliffe Road End) and Lord opened the bowling. In the 4th over, Bracey smashed Lord for six over square leg. In the 5th over, Bracey was dropped on 15 by Haynes stretching to his left at slip off Hutton. Bracey then hit Lord for three consecutive fours, 13 off the 8th over. James replaced Lord for the 10th over. Gloucestershire, off to a good start, were 50 for 0 off 10 overs.
After bowling 6 overs 0 for 24, Hutton was replaced by Pocklington. Bracey hit James for a straight six, nine off the 14th over. Hayes came on for the 16th over, Bracey edging him for four which took him to his 50 off 51 balls. Bracey was dropped on 58 at wide long leg by Slater off Hayes in the 18th over – an easy and what turned out to be a game turning chance. The two runs scored brought up the Gloucestershire 100. In the 23rd over, Bancroft (46 off 56 balls, 4x4) drove Pocklington to Lord at mid-on who took a good catch diving forwards; 121 for 1. Hayes conceded 11 off the 24th over including boundaries for Ollie Price and Bracey. Martindale (2 0 13 0) came on for the 25th over and conceded 10 - two fours for Bracey. Gloucestershire 145 for 1 off 25 overs looking for a total of beyond 350.
Lord and Hutton came back for the 26th and 29th overs respectively with Bracey pulling Hutton(8 0 40 0) for six over long leg. Bracey reached his fourth List A ton off 98 balls with a single off Lord in the 30th over (Gloucestershire 170-1).
James and Pocklington returned for the 32nd and 33rd overs respectively. Bracey smashed James for 6 over mid-wicket, 12 off the 34th over. In the following over, Bracey hit Pocklington for six over square leg, 15 off the 35th over including two leg byes.
Hayes took a wicket with the first ball of his second spell. Ollie Price (34), coming down the pitch to a legside delivery, skying him to Lord at mid-off, 222 for 2 in the 37th over. Ben Charlesworth hit James for six over backward square leg; 10 off the 38th over. Bracey reached 150 off 128 balls with a single off Hayes, 11 off the 39th over. Gloucestershire 256 for 2 off 40 overs.
Lord took two wickets in two balls. Ben Charlesworth (17) skied him and James took the catch on the run from mid-on. Hammond went for a golden duck caught by Hameed in the covers; 267 for 4 in the 42nd over. Pocklington went for nine in the 43rd over. Lord (10 0 60 2) went for five runs off his last over. Pocklington (10 0 69 1) conceded 17 off his last over including a six over mid-wicket by Bracey. Bracey finally perished in the next over ramping James to Hutton at short third man (299 for 5), two off the 46th over.
Hayes once again took a wicket with his first delivery of his new spell deflecting a van Buuren drive onto the non-strikers stumps running out Jack Taylor for 10 (300 for 6). Van Buuren hit Hayes for six over square leg; 11 off the 47th over. James conceded four plus two byes off the 48th over. Ahmed (12) was caught on the point ropes by Martindale off Hayes (320 for 7). Only six off Hayes' (10 0 77 2) last over. Miles hoisted James (10 0 78 1) for 6 over mid-wicket and then van Buuren guided him for six over backward square leg; a crucial 20 off the last over. Gloucestershire 343 for 7 off 50 overs. An above par total but attainable if Notts got off to a good start.
Notts though were 10-2 after 14 balls with both openers back in the Pavilion. Shaw (Radcliffe Road) conceded one off the 1st over, Slater (0) departed for a 2 ball duck caught by Bancroft at first slip off Matt Taylor; 2 for 1 after 8 balls. Martindale (6) hit Shaw for 4 through point but next ball drove Shaw straight to Ben Charlesworth at mid-on, 10 for 2. Haynes and Hameed gave Notts some hope whilst adding 84 in 16 overs. Haynes hit Shaw for successive boundaries, 11 off the 9th over. Notts 46 for 2 off 10 overs.
Miles came on for the 11th over - Notts reaching 50 via a cover driven boundary by Haynes. Van Buuren replaced Taylor for the 12th over and went for four singles. Miles went for 11 in the 13th over - boundaries for both batsmen. Haynes got to his 50 off 57 balls with a legside two off Miles in the 17th over. Notts hopes suffered a major blow when Haynes (57 off 66 balls, 7x4) attempting a pull shot from Miles gloved the delivery to keeper Bracey, 94 for 3 in the 19th over.
Hameed and James tried to consolidate whilst 45 runs were scored off 9 overs. Taylor came on for the 21st over and conceded three runs. Ahmed came on for the 24th over. Notts 127 for 3 off 25 overs. Hameed reached 50 off 62 balls with a single off the returning Shaw (7-0-37-1) in the 27th over. In the 28th over, James (22), who failed to score a boundary, skied Ahmed to the juggling Charlesworth running in from the cover ropes who took the catch at the second attempt, 139 for 4.
Jack Taylor returned and conceded 12 off the 31st over including a six over mid-wicket by Hameed. Van Buuren was reintroduced for the 34th over, King hitting him for six over mid-wicket, 10 off the over. King (21) was caught by another juggling effort this time by Ahmed at short fine leg off Miles the ninth ball of an over which started with three successive wides; 186 for 5 after 35 overs. Van Buuren conceded just a single in the 36th over. Miles (7-0-55-2) went for 18 in the 37th over including boundaries for Hameed and Schadendorf and six wides – one a legside delivery which went to the ropes. Now needing over 10 an over, Hameed (80 off 88 balls; 6x4, 1x6) got a leading edge to van Buuren with Miles taking the catch at extra cover; 206 for 6 in the 38th over. Notts last hope had gone.
Gloucestershire went for an all spin attack of Jack Taylor and Ollie Price. Schadendorf hit Price for six over square leg – 10 off the 40th over (231 for 6).
Pocklington (13) holed out to long on where Ollie Price took the catch off Jack Taylor, 234 for 7 in the 41st over. Schadendorf hit Price for six over long off; 11 off the 42nd over. Schadendorf (28) was caught at extra cover by Ahmed off Jack Taylor; 245 for 8 in the 43rd over. Off three consecutive balls, Lord reverse swept van Buuren (10 0 61 1) for 4, hit him for six over mid-wicket and edged him for 4; 16 off the 44th over. Lord hit Jack Taylor (8-0-50-2) for six over square leg; 11 off the 45th over. Lord (27) was caught at extra cover by Jack Taylor off his brother Matt (8-0-38-2); 277 for 9 in the 46th over. Hutton (15) hit Price (2.2 0 26 1) for six over mid-wicket but at 18:20 fell next ball caught by Miles running round the long on boundary. Notts 291 all out off 47.2 overs – Hayes 3 not out. Gloucestershire with only three Hundred call ups plus an overseas batsman remain unbeaten in the competition. Notts with ten players missing to The Hundred and without an overseas player. The threadbare attack with four inexperienced bowlers on board had let the opposition score well over 300 for the fourth time in the 2025 competition.
Notts remain fourth in the table and unbelievably can still mathematically qualify! But if Hampshire beat Derbyshire on Sunday, Notts will be out of the competition even if they beat Surrey. MAG
Squad:
Do we have momentum? Can we overcome a near full strength Gloucestershire, who haven't dropped a point yet?
Of course we can, as we have sound leadership, on and off the field, and we have strong players, many of which are under-utilised over the season in all formats.
Does that guarantee, if Outlaws win both their remaining games, a play-off / quarter-final place, as reported on the BBC - well no, it still depends on other results. Notts could still finish in fourth place with 22 points.
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| For those that have forgotten what the place looks like. But what is the giant TV for on the outside of the Radcliffe Road stand? |
Something no longer there.
ReplyDeleteAlways tough to chase 340. Asking a lot of Ben M to open when hameed is middle order. Surely a switch suits both?
ReplyDeleteYes JimG, I probably would have made that switch also, although I probably would have stuck with Sam Seecharan all comp, and juggled the pack a bit
DeleteProud of the lads - couldn’t believe when down there and news ð° that Dill Pennington had been called back by that horrid 16.4 outfit and without “Terry” McCann down to the bare bones ðĶī yet again whilst playing a Gloucester side very near full strength in their batting order
We let them get a bit over par, but made a decent effort in overhauling that monster ðđ score down, esp. after losing BennySlats and Martindale so quickly
The lads can be proud of themselves in this years Metro ð Bank ðĶ in extremely testing circumstances
Some real talent there for us, and hope those lads get a chance to prove it in The County Championship, undiminished.
DeleteLet' s pull off a won v Surrey, and you never know !
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