Essex thrashed by ruthless Glos

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, Southend:
Gloucestershire 498 and 39-0 beat Essex 300 and 236 by 10 wickets (Glos 21pts, Essex 5pts)

Match scorecard

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James Franklin picked up six wickets in the match and scored a century

Gloucestershire boosted their promotion chances by completing a comprehensive 10-wicket win over Essex at Southend.

Resuming the day on 75-3 and needing 123 to make Gloucestershire bat again, the hosts lost Tom Westley (32) early.

Graham Napier, Mark Pettini and Ryan ten Doeschate all got starts, but James Franklin (3-23) and Ian Saxelby (3-31) helped dismiss Essex for 236.

Gloucestershire openers Rob Woodman and Kadeer Ali then knocked off the 38 runs required inside 11 overs.

After Westley turned off-spinner Richard Dawson into the hands of Alex Gidman at leg-slip, Pettini (36) was trapped lbw by Franklin soon after.

Ten Doeschate (33), then shared 35 for the sixth wicket with James Foster (20), a partnership that was ended when the wicketkeeper drove Saxelby to Hamish Marshall at cover.

Another stand of 35, this time between ten Doeschate and Napier (39), followed, but when the Dutchman was trapped lbw by Saxelby, Essex still needed a further 16 to make the visitors bat again.

David Masters (19) stayed with Napier long enough to ensure that Essex would be required to take the field but when he and Danish Kaneria fell quickly to Franklin, the end was near.

Napier was last man out, well caught by Kadeer on the square-leg boundary off Saxelby, before the visiting openers marched to victory.

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Essex all-rounder Graham Napier told BBC Essex:

"Any loss is pretty hard to take, and at a home festival it makes it tougher.

"The hundreds scored by Franklin and Adshead were the difference between the two sides.

"We lacked runs at the beginning of the innings. The middle order has been consistent bet we need some runs from the top."