Gloucestershire left to rue cautious declaration

GLOUCESTERSHIRE were left to rue an over-cautious declaration when their Rothesay County Championship Division Two game with Kent ended at Canterbury in a draw on Monday evening.

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Tom Price almost single-handedly injected life into what was becoming a tedious final day by reducing Kent to 49 for four with 22 overs remaining, but despite some middle order tremors the hosts dug in to reach 124 for six.

England’s Zak Crawley anchored the defence with an unbeaten 54 from 112 balls and Grant Stewart finished on 16 not out, keeping his head during a tense finale that went to the final over.

The visitors batted deeply, arguably too deeply, into the afternoon session before setting a notional target of 413 to win from 41 overs, after declaring on 335 for five, Miles Hammond making 89, Graeme van Buuren 58 and Ollie Price 56. Tom Price finished with figures of four for 33.

Few expected this game to go the distance after 36 overs were lost on day three and the word from the Gloucestershire camp on Sunday night was that they were reluctant to set a low target because of the way Kent chased down 316 last week to beat Middlesex.

They resumed on 112 for two, a lead of 191 and Ollie Price and Hammond at least began like a duo who knew they'd have to score quickly if there was any chance of forcing a result.