Cosgrove: "A result the competition needed"

Tomorrow's Specsavers County Championship match between Gloucestershire and Leicestershire is beautifully poised after last weekend's dramatic finale at Cheltenham.

Both sides have kept the Division Two title race alive by beating Essex in recent weeks, Leicestershire achieving the feat at Chelmsford last month while Gloucestershire were in top form to prevent the leaders’ pursuit of 213 at the Festival on Saturday.

Leicestershire captain Mark Cosgrove felt that Gloucestershire's win was a vital result ahead of the meeting of two sides who, at 11 and 31 points behind Essex with this being a game in hand, are well-placed to challenge.  

“It was a result that the competition needed,” said County’s leading scorer in the competition. “If Essex got another win it would have pushed them further away from everybody else.

“Gloucestershire played some fine cricket in that game, so it should be an exciting match and we want to be on the right end of the result.

“We’re also playing some really good four-day cricket and it will be good to get back into the red ball competition. The forecast looks good so hopefully we’re in for an exciting few days at the Festival.”

Whereas Gloucestershire go into the game on the back of their excellent victory, the Foxes were left to reflect on a near miss at New Road last time around.

The result against Worcestershire may have gone against his team but Cosgrove was still impressed with the performance. Leicestershire are moving firmly in the right direction and were boosted by Cosgrove recently committing his future to the club for at least the next two seasons.

He said: “Worcester was one of those games where we thought we had enough runs, and having them 4-73 put us right on top of the game, but things didn’t quite go our way.

“We played some good cricket over the whole game, the last couple of hours let us down a little bit but we took a lot of positive. We scored 400 again in the first innings and had a good score in the second innings, and also taking 17 wickets, so we’re playing well.

“We’re batting really well and the bowling has been good but we haven’t quite picked up the rewards we’ve deserved. We’ll be looking for everything to click in Cheltenham.”

The delightful college ground has been kind to both counties over the years so everything is set for a good contest between two evenly-matched sides.

Since the start of the 2013 season, the West Country side have won more Specsavers County Championship games at Cheltenham than their Bristol base despite playing less than a third of home matches there.

Gloucestershire have won four of their last seven Championship games at the Festival - including their last three matches - whereas their Brightside County Ground record is three successes out of 22.

Gloucestershire's Cheltenham run saw a win against Leicestershire last season; the team’s first defeat in nine visits at the venue, a run that had stretched back to 1933.

Two players who have a particular fondness for the ground are Gareth Roderick and Charlie Shreck. The home skipper has made scores of at least 50 in three of his last four first-class innings including a highest of 102 in the second innings against Essex, arguably the most important factor in the win.

Shreck once scored an unbeaten 16 in a memorable victory for Kent at Cheltenham in 2013. The history books show that as a two-wicket success but Shreck was effectively the last line of defence given Brendan Nash had retired through heat exhaustion after making 199.

The evergreen seamer also shone for Leicestershire last season, returning match figures of 8-140, including his second five-wicket haul for the club.

Niall O’Brien missed last season’s trip and has been injured for the last couple of Specsavers County Championship matches but he makes a welcome return to the fold.

The Ireland international is part of a 12-man squad alongside Ned Eckersley, who made 92 not out, completed a fine run out of key batsman Joe Clarke, and took three catches behind the stumps at Worcestershire.

Cosgrove said: “Niall is always great to have back, he’s one of those players who takes the game on. If we are in trouble he’ll battle, and if we’re ahead of the game, he’ll put his foot down and take the game away from the opposition.

“Ned was fantastic getting 90-odd not out at Worcester and he’s forced his way back into our plans with the way he’s played. It’s good to have people doing really well and pushing each other.”

In other squad news, Richard Jones is available after missing the NatWest T20 Blast trip to Edgbaston as part of the agreement of his loan deal, Neil Dexter returns after resting last weekend, while slow left arm spinner James Sykes is also in the travelling party.

Rob Taylor and Aadil Ali, who were part of the team and squad respectively for the game at Worcestershire, are playing for the Second XI at Desborough.

Leicestershire (from): Horton, Robson, Dexter, Cosgrove (capt), Pettini, O’Brien, Eckersley, Raine, McKay, Jones, Shreck, Sykes.