DAY 4 Close: Gloucestershire 400-9 dec. & 168-2 drew with Glamorgan 350-8 (PTS: Glos 11 Glam 11)
The expected excitement on the final day at Bristol failed to materialise as Gloucestershire settled for a draw against Glamorgan.
11 points will seem a fair return after three heavy defeats, as Glos batsmen enjoyed time at the crease, playing themselves into some kind of form with plenty of cricket remaining in the season.
It was pretty lethargic stuff at Nevil Road as the Shire continued their overnight defensive stance and played out the final day; Will Porterfield plodded his way to 31 from 106 balls and Kadeer Ali also enjoyed a glorified net with 67 before bad light curtailed proceedings.
It had been a slow, unresponsive wicket that produced a flat game; the weather preventing proper preparation of the wicket and taking three sessions out of the match. And batting was a pretty easy task as even the extra pace of Steve Kirby and Garnett Kruger, although only Alex Gidman truly capitalised and converted his start into a century.
The afternoon's cricket did bring out cricket's more frustrating side, however, as a ludicrous interruption for bad light saw a 20 minute session before the tea interval and then 20 further minutes before the players were dragged off again for light. Everyone wanted the game finished, but it took a further half-hour until the cut-off point for the game to officially be declared a draw - a quite agonising waste of time when common-sense should have prevailed.
Official report: www.gloscricket.com
I gave up at lunchtime when it was clear that I was watching a "grandmaster draw". Mind you, something has to be seriously wrong when they go off for bad light in early afternoon at the start of August.
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