CHELTENHAM

Day three of four (Gloucestershire won toss)

Worcestershire 672-7 dec (V.S. Solanki 270, S.C. Moore 129, S.M. Davies 99 not out, G.J. Batty 66) v Gloucestershire 283 (M.J. North 98, D.O. Brown 83, Kabir Ali 6-94) and 128-4 (M.J. North 70 not out)

Lunch

Vikram Solanki reached the highest score of his career before lunch, beating his previous best of 232 which he made against Surrey at Worcester last year. Having made 179 overnight, he progressed to his double century off 188 balls with 36 fours, maintaining his concentration and ability to keep the ball on the ground all the while.

He lost his partner, Stephen Moore, who added just nine to his overnight 120 before his drove Steve Kirby to Hamish Marshall at mid on. Their partnership was one of 316 in 57 overs.

Ben Smith was next out, caught at second slip off Kirby for 22, but Graeme Hick, who has struck ten centuries against Gloucestershire in the course of his long career, remained with his captain until lunch. By then, Solanki had reached his 250, which came off 235 balls and included 45 fours. The pitch was still even paced and showing no indication of providing any spin.

Tea

Worcestershire achieved the highest total since first-class cricket was first played at Cheltenham in 1872, overtaking Glamorgan’s 647 two years ago. For this, they were indebted to Vikram Solanki, who was finally out for 270, 48 runs short of W.G. Grace’s record score of 318 not out in 1876. Solanki, who was caught at square leg off Marcus North’s off spin, faced 253 balls and struck 48 fours.

In addition, Steven Davies was one run short of his first century of the season, striking the ball in a style which had largely deserted him this season. His runs came off 98 balls and included 13 fours, several of them cleanly driven through what remained of the cover ring, in addition to a six. And there was a half century for Gareth Batty, who struck three fours and two sixes in all. At tea, Worcestershire had a lead of 389.

Close

Worcestershire opted to declare at tea rather than come out for an over or two to enable Steven Davies to score the one run he required for his century. A harsh decision, seemingly, by Vikram Solanki, but it was soon justified. They had Gloucestershire four wickets down by the close, not least through the pace of Kabir Ali, who had Hamish Marshall caught at second slip, and Simon Jones, who had Kadeer Ali, Kabir’s cousin, caught behind the wicket. Steve Snell went for a duck, bowled by Matt Mason, who also removed Alex Gidman, held at midwicket by a fielder brought in for that very shot.

Marcus North remained, however, compiling his second half century of the match through studious concentration and driving anything remotely overpitched. He reached this with nine fours off 54 balls and was still there at the close. He will need plenty more runs if Gloucestershire are not to suffer an innings defeat.