Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by seven wickets

After dismissing Glamorgan last evening, the West Country side needed 108 to win on the final day - a task which normal cricketing logic suggested would be a relatively straightforward one, but in a week of some remarkable events in the world of cricket, not least England humbling Australia for 60 en route to regaining the Ashes urn, there were some at Swansea who were speculating that Sunday would see yet another extraordinary mornings play.


To support these fanciful dreams, events yesterday afternoon at St. Helen's had shown that there was still plenty of life in the wicket as the visiting seamers extracted vertical as well as lateral movement. With a heavy cloud cover this morning, the tide in and a bit of light drizzle in the air, the romantics were hoping that the unique microclimate of the seafront ground plus the overhead conditions might come to Glamorgan's assistance.


Michael Hogan and Craig Meschede took the new ball with the latter being clipped to square-leg and mid-wicket for a pair of fours by Will Tavare. But these were two rare loose balls as both bowlers regularly beat the outside edge but to their frustration failed to make contact with the blade. The drizzle then turned into steady rain and after 8.1 overs the players left the field with Gloucestershire on 13/0.

Hopes of a resumption at 12.15pm were dashed by further rain, and with the precipitation still falling, an early lunch was taken at 12.30pm.

Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by seven wickets on the final day of their LV=County Championship match at Swansea.



The morning rain had boosted the romantics hopes of a dramatic ending to this contest, but events during the afternoon scotched these thoughts as the injury-ravaged Gloucestershire side eased towards a victory as Glamorgan went down to their third Championship defeat in a row.


After an early lunch had been taken at 12.30pm, play resumed at 1.10pm with fifteen overs lost from the day's quota and the parsimonious Michael Hogan completing his fifth over at the Mumbles Road End. Craig Meschede continued his probing spell at the Pavilion End, and again beat the outside edge before the sequence of five maiden overs was ended as Chris Dent punched the seamer through extra cover for four. Shortly afterwards, he ended the sequence of dot balls by Hogan by clipping him to long-leg for four, before clipping successive deliveries from Meschede to the ropes at square-leg and mid-wicket.


Hogan duly changed ends as Graham Wagg replaced him at the Mumbles Road End and with his fifth ball Wagg produced a rising delivery which found the edge of Tavare's bat as Mark Wallace completed the regulation catch. 37/1 saw Gareth Roderick join Dent with the new batsman clipping Hogan to the mid-wicket ropes before drizzle started to fall again.


Andrew Salter briefly replaced Hogan with Dent sweeping his first ball for four, before lofting the fourth straight for six, and top-edging the sixth delivery to the vacant ropes at third man. But Wagg claimed a second scalp in his fourth over as - with the total on 59 - Roderick sparred at a delivery and lobbed a catch to Aneurin Donald at point.


Meschede duly returned at the Pavilion End as Glamorgan strove to make further inroads. He was clipped to fine-leg by Dent. Hogan then returned for a final salvo with Dent pulling him for three to complete a 99-ball fifty, but with the total on 84, Howell edged a rising delivery from the Australian to first slip where Colin Ingram safely pouched the ball.


His departure saw Hamish Marshall arrive in the middle and the veteran Kiwi nearly chopped his third ball onto his stumps but Dent responded by pulling Will Bragg for four before lofting him straight for six. Marshall then flicked Kieran Bull for four to fine-leg, before ending the match by sweeping the next to long-leg as the contest ended shortly before 3.15pm with victory for Gloucestershire by seven wickets.