Bristol (Final day of four, Gloucestershire won toss)

Gloucestershire 401-6 dec (K. Ali 161, M.J. North 64, C.G. Taylor 50) drew with Northamptonshire 349 (D.J.G. Sales 148, A.J. Hall 58, J. Louw 46, O.J. Newby 5-69) and 1-0

Lunch

Kadeer Ali reached his first century of the season shortly before lunch, striking 12 fours and facing 224 balls. The match, however, was already drifting towards a draw, prompting John Light, the Gloucestershire chairman, to say that he would be writing to Paul Russell, the chairman of the ECB’s Domestic Structure Review Group, on the topic of too many unsatisfactory finales to county championship matches this season. “We need to have more points for a win,” he said. “Five bonus batting points encourages you to bat forever.” Kadeer put on 107 with Marcus North, who was out for 64 when he lost his off stump driving at Andrew Hall. This is his final match of the season as he is returning to Australia to take part in two Australia A matches in India.

Tea

Kadeer Ali achieved the highest score of his career, 161, on an afternoon of desultory cricket against a Northamptonshire side that will remain in third place in the second division championship table. After breaking a finger earlier in the season, he has effectively had “to start again,” as Jack Russell, the Gloucestershire mentor, put it. When he was finally out here, caught off a leading edge, he had faced 325 balls and hit 19 fours. Beforehand, Chris Taylor had reached a half century including eight fours, but was caught at cover off the very next ball. At tea, Gloucestershire had a first innings lead, but the surprise was that the two sides had been unable to reach some kind of decision over making a game of it, given they are both in need of points.

Close

Bonus points and the four points allocated to each side for a draw was the summit of the ambitions of both captains, who could not resolve between them a means to set up a decent finish. The irony was that both clubs are much in need of as many points as possible. Gloucestershire settled for a declaration after tea and, after two overs of Northamptonshire’s second innings, both sides shook hands. It was an unsatisfactory finish to a match that had been badly affected by rain but could still have resulted in a more positive outcome. The one plus point was the form of Kadeer Ali, who has made a good recovery from a bad finger injury earlier in the season.