Date-stamped : 10 May95 - 14:26 Benson & Hedges Cup Round 4 : Essex v Gloucestershire Chelmsford, 9 May 1995 Russell adds late flourish to beat Essex - D.J. Rutnagur Gloucs (211-8) bt Essex (208-8) by 3 runs ALTHOUGH preserving their winning sequence with a thrilling last-ball triumph, Gloucestershire`s qualification for the knock-out stage of the Benson & Hedges competition must remain in doubt until the last round of matches next week, with Glamorgan and Middlesex still in contention. Frequent swings of fortune and the tense finish compensated for a shortage of runs. Scoring was not helped by a pitch used previ- ously which did not encourage strokeplay. The only score of more than 50 was contributed by the irrepressi- ble veteran, Graham Gooch, but he needed 103 balls to score 69 and eventually got out reverse-sweeping a full toss. While a carved four through the covers by Jack Russell, whose un- beaten 42 - which won him the Gold Award - settled the issue, a single would have sufficed. Had the scores been level, the larger score after 30 overs would have broken the tie. Gloucestershire discovered that they led 100-92 after checking the scores when four balls remained. Gloucestershire`s start was sound, if slow, Tony Wright and Tim Hancock taking 20 overs to put on 50. Monte Lynch and Robert Daw- son provided significant impetus, and though Essex fought back by dismissing Alleyne and Dawson at the same score to reduce Gloucestershire to 125 for five, they remained the underdogs. The match was thrown wide open when Andrew Symonds and Javagal Srinath, who had bowled superbly during Essex`s innings, got out within 10 runs of each other, leaving Gloucestershire to get 28 from five overs with only three wickets standing. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)