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Cawdron seizes his chance

Gloucs (202-7) bt Warwicks (198-8) by 3 wkts

A Brace of championship drubbings has made this a chastening Cheltenham Festival for Gloucestershire, all but condemning them to the Second Division next season, but in one-day mode they are a considerably different proposition.

A victory secured by Mark Alleyne's six off the penultimate ball not only sustained the Gladiators' challenge for the title but also restored spirits for Wednesday's NatWest Trophy quarter-final against Glamorgan and next Sunday's Benson and Hedges Super Cup final against Yorkshire at Lord's.

They face these hurdles, moreover, with fears over the loss of seamer Jon Lewis, who suffered a broken knuckle batting against Durham on Friday, much reduced by a stirling performance from his likely replacement at Cardiff and Lord's.

Cheltenham College old boy Michael Cawdron, still to make his first-class debut after six seasons on the staff, bowled with exemplary control and penetration to claim four for 17 in his first one-day appearance of this campaign and was the major source of Warwickshire's discomfort after they had opted to bat first on a grafter's pitch.

Half-centuries from Neil Smith and Dominic Ostler shored up Warwickshire in a stand worth 108 in 19 overs but their score seemed comfortably within Gloucestershire's reach until Jack Russell's dab-and-dash 52 off 62 balls ended with four overs to go.

Gloucestershire slid from 173 for four to 192 for seven before Alleyne's six over long-on settled it, leaving Warwickshire to contemplate a seventh defeat in nine matches in July and stirrings of disgruntlement among the members over an unpopular decision not to grant Ostler a testimonial next summer.