Weather wins Rain intervenes to

RAIN put paid to the prospect of an exciting finish at Wantage Road as Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire were forced to settle for a draw.

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The contest was nicely poised when the weather intervened, edging in favour of the home side with Gloucestershire on 214-6, needing another 136 from a minimum of 24.2 overs.

Northamptonshire had set their opponents a target of 350 after rattling up 101 runs from the first 12 overs of the day to declare on 259-6, built around bristling knocks of 70 and 58 respectively from James Sales and Saif Zaib.

Gloucestershire head coach Mark Alleyne said: "I think chasing 350 was a more than fair declaration, both sides had a good opportunity to win the game.

"Our intention was to go all the way and in terms of run-rate, all was going well - we'd probably just lost one or two wickets more than we would have liked at that stage but we were still keen on giving it a go for those last 20 overs or so.

"For me and for any coach, it's the enterprise of the lads in the team that gives you the confidence to play in this way.

"There were times earlier in the season when we were a little more conservative, but we feel we're playing well enough now to take a few chances to win matches.

"Our declaration (on day 3) was based on that premise.

"We're a little bit shy of where we'd ideally like to be but we're only halfway through - we feel as though we've got the group and the minerals to attack the last seven games."