One-Day Cup: Ian Cockbain guides Gloucestershire into last eight
- Published
Royal London One-Day Cup, New Road |
Gloucestershire 216-5 (38.1 overs) beat Worcestershire 229 (48.5 overs) by five wickets (D/L method) |
Ian Cockbain made his highest limited-overs score to guide Gloucestershire to victory over Worcestershire and into the One-Day Cup quarter-finals
He made 98 not out at New Road as they chased down a revised target of 214 in 41 overs to win by five wickets.
Tom Fell (89) and Alexei Kervezee (80) shared a stand of 159 in the home side's scored of 229 all out.
Will Gidman took 4-41 and also made 44 as he and Cockbain put on 76 to see Gloucestershire home on 216-5.
They got home with 17 balls to spare as Cockbain hit Ross Whiteley for the 13th boundary of his 113-ball innings to completer their fourth win out of seven in the competition, with two games ending in a no-result.
Worcestershire's third defeat left them fifth in the table and needing to win away at Leicestershire in their final group game on Thursday.
Should they do so, they would then go through if Gloucestershire win at Derbyshire next week, the game ends in a tie or no-result, or Derbyshire win but fail to beat their net run-rate.
After losing both openers early, Worcestershire were going well on 171-2 when Kervezee's dismissal, caught behind via an under-edge off Craig Miles (2-54), checked their momentum.
Fell followed, lofting spinner Jack Taylor to Cockbain at long-off in the 41st over as Worcestershire's last seven wickets fell for 58 runs in 14 overs and they left the last seven balls of their innings unused.
Rain during the lunch interval delayed Gloucestershire's run-chase, which began badly as Michael Klinger and Chris Dent were both caught behind in Mitchell McClenaghan's first over and Hamish Marshall was taken at mid-wicket off Jack Shantry to leave them on 10-3.
But Gareth Roderick (28) helped Cockbain add 64 and although McClenaghan (3-46) later ended Gidman's enterprising 40-ball knock by having him caught in the deep, the latter's brother Alex helped Cockbain complete the job with an unbeaten 28.
Worcestershire assistant coach Matt Mason:
"We were in a fantastic position to get 300 again and then unfortunately there were some poor decisions by our batsmen.
"Shot selection was questionable at best. As a result we left our bowlers with too much to do."
Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger:
"We don't want to let up now. We are in the quarter-finals, but we want a home draw.
"We play Derbyshire in our last game and because Yorkshire play Essex, it is in our own hands.
"We would love a quarter-final in front of a big crowd at Bristol."
- Published15 May 2018