Gloucestershire Defeat At Bristol
An unbeaten 70 from James Franklin was not enough to save Gloucestershire from a six-wicket Clydesdale Bank 40 defeat by Essex under the Bristol floodlights.
The result meant the Eagles leapfrogged the Gladiators into second place in Group B and Gloucestershire must now win their remaining three games to stand a realistic chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Both sides struggled to score quickly on a slow pitch and, despite Franklin's 88-ball innings, the Gladiators were only able to muster 184-8 from their 40 overs, having been put in.
The bowlers battled hard without much luck to defend the modest total, but Ravi Bopara (45), Grant Flower (45), Mark Pettini (37) and Matthew Walker (32) batted sensibly to see the Eagles to victory with an over to spare.
After the game skipper Alex Gidman said: "I was disappointed with our batting performance. A total of 200 would have been challenging on that pitch, but we didn't put enough partnerships together.
"James Franklin showed what was possible if a batsman showed the right application, but we didn't give him enough support.
"It's always difficult defending four and a half runs per over. The bowlers fought hard and produced some good deliveries without much luck, but it wasn't enough.
"We have to look hard at ourselves before our last three games because in the last two matches we have not stuck to our plan of keeping wickets in hand for the closing overs."
Gloucestershire's next Clydesdale Bank 40 game is away to the Netherlands in Rotterdam on Thursday.
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