Worcestershire hopes washed away

Gloucestershire 245 and 243 for 7 drew with Worcestershire 388
Scorecard

Steve Rhodes claimed a "moral victory" for Worcestershire after rain thwarted their victory attempt on the final day of the Championship match against Gloucestershire.

Worcestershire would have risen to second in the division two table had they been able to secure the win. But, with rain preventing any play until 3.45, the visitors were able to cling on for a draw. Perhaps, had Vikram Solanki clung on to a chance offered by Vikram Banerjee at fourth slip, Worcestershire might have been able to force victory.

But, by then, Gloucestershire were already 85 runs ahead with just 18 overs remaining. It was wretched luck for Alan Richardson, however. The 35-year-old seamer, who bowled 28 accurate overs in the second innings, was easily the pick of the attack and richly deserved his third five-wicket haul of the campaign.

A couple of Gloucestershire players were also grateful for the reprieve. Both James Franklin and Chris Taylor were dismissed by bizarrely inappropriate shots. Franklin obligingly pulled directly to the man positioned for the shot on the square-leg boundary, before Taylor undid much of the value of his resistance with a horrid heave across the line.

Without Richard Jones, however, who was off the field with a hamstring strain, Richardson lacked support and Gloucestershire were able to cling on until the sides agreed to shake hands on the draw with 10 of the scheduled overs remaining. Jones will undergo a scan to ascertain the extent of his injury in the next 24 hours.

"It's very frustrating," Worcestershire's director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, said afterwards. "I felt we played all the cricket in the game but we can't control the weather. That's two games in a row we've had the best of draws. It's a moral victory."

Rhodes expressed satisfaction at Worcestershire's start to the season, however, taking particular pleasure in the performance of the club's younger players.

"We're reasonably well placed," he said. "We've only lost one [championship] game - which is better than anyone else in the division - and we've shown a bit of resilience. There are good signs for the future. Our two leading run scorers are aged 20 and 22 [Alexei Kervezee and Moeen Ali respectively] while until this game 23-year-old Richard Jones was our leading wicket taker. All three are very ambitious and, with hard work, can go a stage further.

"I've always said I want us to be in a position to challenge for promotion in the last month of the season. That would be lovely. We're a proud county and we want to be playing in the top division."

Gloucestershire were stung by the news that they had suffered a two-point deduction for their tardy over rate. Still, they are up to second in the table (equal on points with Sussex, who have a game in hand) and look likely to be involved in the promotion race.

"We still felt we could win this morning," their captain, Alex Gidman said afterwards. "But to come out of the game with a draw having not played our best cricket is a positive for us." Gidman also insisted he was not concerned by his side's poor form with the bat. Despite Gloucestershire averaging the lowest score per wicket of any side in the country and are the only team without a first-class century in the campaign.

"I'm not really worried, no," he said. "We've played on some tough wickets and, at the halfway stage of the season, we're challenging for promotion. Statistics are fine, but it's what works for the team that is important, and we're right in the hunt."

Meanwhile Gloucestershire have added Ian Butler to their squad for the T20 Cup. The fast bowling allrounder, who recently impressed in New Zealand's World T20 campaign, joins up with compatriots John Bracewell, Hamish Marshall and James Franklin in Bristol.