County lose at Cheltenham
Sat 18 Jul 2015
Gloucestershire won the LV=CC game at Cheltenham by 155 runs as Leicestershire suffered a four-day defeat on the ground for the first time in nine visits.
Having been set 325 to win, Leicestershire were bowled out for 169 shortly before tea on the final day despite another promising innings from Aadil Ali.
The young batsman made a second consecutive gutsy career-best score, adding 41 off 93 balls to his first innings tally of 40 off 119.
It was not enough to prevent a fifth consecutive Championship defeat for Leicestershire while Gloucestershire registered back to back wins in a season at the charming College Ground for the first time since 1998.
Leicestershire captain Mark Cosgrove said: "It was probably the best day to bat on the wicket, so it was a bit disappointing that we couldn't get a better result than we have.
"It's frustrating. The bowlers have been fantastic and you cannot fault them - they have been fantastic all year.
"But at the moment we are not getting too many partnerships and that is a problem for us. We need to give the bowlers more of a break and that means batting for 120 overs rather than 50 or 60."
County resumed on their overnight total of 11-0 requiring a further 314 but soon found themselves in trouble when leading scorers Angus Robson and Ned Eckersley departed off successive balls from Craig Miles.
Robson (6) had his off stump removed by Miles off the first ball of the 13th over and Eckersley (0) edged the seamer to Michael Klinger at slip.
Opener Matthew Boyce and skipper Cosgrove dropped anchor as Leicestershire regrouped but they were dismissed in successive overs as the session wore on.
Unfortunately, the introduction of Kieran Noema-Barnett brought about the downfall of Boyce, lbw for 22 off 91 balls, and Cosgrove (24 off 60) was trapped leg before by Benny Howell's third ball of the innings.
To compound a difficult morning, Greg Smith (4) edged James Fuller to Chris Dent at second slip to leave Leicestershire at 77 for 5 at lunch.
'Keeper Lewis Hill (10) was brilliantly caught at gully by sub Miles Hammond off the bowling of Miles after the interval and that brought Ali and Ben Raine (21 off 53) together.
Ali, making his second Championship appearance for the club, led the way with Raine providing stern support until a huge slice of misfortune brought to an end their 54-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
Having hit Jack Taylor for a straight six over long-off, Ali's next straight drive was deflected back onto the stumps at the non-striker's end by the off-spinner with Raine stranded out of his crease.
Ali added another six off Taylor over mid-wicket to move on to 41 but off the next ball holed out to Fuller at mid-off.
Jigar Naik (0) followed next ball, caught at leg slip and though Charlie Shreck (4) was dropped at slip by Klinger off Noema-Barnett in the 64th over, the game was over when Liam Norwell had Clint McKay (18) caught behind at 169.
Leicestershire now have a break from Championship action until Derbyshire come to Grace Road on Friday, August 7 (11am start).
The team face Nottinghamshire Outlaws in the NatWest T20 Blast at Grace Road next Friday night (5.30pm) before a period of Royal London One Day Cup matches, starting with the visit of Surrey on Sunday, July 26 (10.30am start).
