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Outplayed Hampshire in peril of relegation

Gloucs (247-5) bt Hants (169) by 78 runs

This emphatic victory opened up a six-point gap between Gloucestershire and Hampshire, with four games to go.

Having been outplayed in every department, Hampshire are now perilously close to relegation from Division One.

Put in to bat, Gloucestershire responded to the loss of their first wicket as early as the seventh ball with a free-flowing partnership of 121 in 25 overs, making the most of some dreadful bowling.

Hampshire's performance in the field was inconsistent and, in some respects, downright shoddy. Will Kendall's catch at midwicket to dismiss Robert Cunliffe was a carbon copy of a chance he had dropped off Dimitri Mascarenhas when Cunliffe was only 45. And Mascarenhas himself, who had previously run 20 yards at square leg to take a skier from Ian Harvey, was later culpable when he spilled the chance offered to him by Jack Russell.

For a brief five-over period between the dismissals of Cunliffe and Harvey, Hampshire looked sharper. Twice they came close to running out Mark Alleyne with direct hits, but again their inconsistency told against them.

Mark Garaway, whose selection behind the stumps made for Hampshire's first wicketkeeping change in this competition since 1992, missed Harvey out of his ground to Shaun Udal. And when Russell, to the delight of Gloucestershire's vocal support, charged down the wicket to his first two balls as if to tell Garaway that he ought to be standing up, the visitors' superiority was clear.

Considering their target - 5.5 an over - Hampshire began their reply in very measured fashion, and at 93 for two at halfway, the need to accelerate was clear. But Matthew Windows held three good catches as Martyn Ball, in particular, bowled a tight line. Ball himself first ran out the non-striker, McLean, and then took a sharp return catch to dismiss Kendall. When Jeremy Snape had Garaway lbw as he tried to turn the straight ball round the corner, Hampshire had lost six for 25 in 10 overs, and the game was as good as done.