Glos go down again/Redmond signs

t20: Essex beat Gloucestershire by 66 runs

Gloucestershire slid to another heavy t20 defeat and sit rooted to the bottom of the South group. However, they are certainly not out of the qualifying mix just yet.

It was a consecutive failure with the bat that saw Gloucestershire lose by such a large margin - they should have got far closer to an above-par target.

Essex achieved what Gloucestershire failed to do with the ball and chipped away with regular wickets. As a result, Essex built partnerships and set a good score, while Gloucestershire never looked like getting a good score.

The concerning thing was the cost of the wickets - only four double-figure scores on the card was another miserable effort and nothing to inspire anyone to return to Bristol.

Gloucestershire's bowling is also struggling in this competition. Jon Lewis has been sending down brilliant spells for nothing but is getting no support. Vikram Banerjee, in particular, is being attacked; his three overs against Essex cost 33.

But batting wins t20 matches - teams chase anything - and Gloucestershire need to find their form to get back into this competition.

AARON REDMOND has signed for Gloucestershire as a second overseas player after Ian Butler was ruled out of the rest of t20 tournament with a back injury.

Redmond, a leg-spinner turned top-order batsman, arrives on Thursday and will make his debut on Friday at Hampshire.

The New Zealander has scored 623 t20 runs at 27 and played in t20 internationals. Gloucestershire have no immediate plans to extend Redmond's stay.

Redmond holds a British passport and lives in Britain during the close-season down-under, so a permanent deal following the t20 will not be completely off the table.