Date-stamped : 02 Aug95 - 14:30 NWT Quarter Finals: Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire Bristol, 1 August 1995 Northants maintain a steady course to semi-finals - Christopher Martin-Jenkins Northants (226) bt Gloucs (203) by 23 runs NORTHAMPTONSHIRE squeezed into this morning`s NatWest Tro- phy semi-final draw in tension heightened by the oppression of an evening as sultry as an afternoon in Sarawak. The victory margin of 23 runs may appear comfortable enough, but the rapidly maturing talent and raw power of the 20-year-old Anglo-Australian Andrew Symonds had joined forces with Jack Russell`s native cunning to turn an embarrassing Gloucestershire slow march into a glorious charge towards a target of 227, com- fortably attainable even on a slow pitch. The pivotal sixth-wicket partnership was ended just in time when Rob Bailey, the third spinner called on by Allan Lamb, bowled Sy- monds as he drew back to cut. He had hit three sixes and four fours off his 40 balls, swinging David Capel and Jeremy Snape far over the midwicket boundary and carving Anil Kumble over long off, a stroke of breath-taking brilliance. Forty five were needed in seven overs when he was out and Gloucestershire could manage only 20 more for their last four wickets. They lost, sad to say, largely because of the inability of Dean Hodgson and, to a lesser extent, the other early Gloucestershire batsmen to get going on a surface on which Northamptonshire shrewdly bowled straight and not too fast. After Matt Windows had been caught behind by Russell Warren off Paul Taylor, poor Hodg- son spent 22 overs and 63 balls over his eight runs, for- getting to drop the ball for singles once he realised that boundaries were beyond him. Monte Lynch and Mark Alleyne did their best to make up lost ground by adding 44 in 11 overs, pav- ing the way for Symonds, but Northamptonshire kept their heads and at least two titles in their sights. Both sides had come into this sweltering day`s cricket on the crest of a wave. Northamptonshire`s men were no doubt especially drained by the intensity of their match at Edgbaston, but for neither side was it really fair that so important a game should follow immediately after a demanding five days of non-stop crick- et. Will the planners take note for 1997 and beyond? Only Lamb, and later the talented Warren, could score with any fluency Gloucestershire are out of the competition and are obviously out- siders in the championship, but this has been an unexpectedly happy and successful season for them. Typically, Russell went straight to Cheltenham on Tuesday to be with his team once he had seen England to their win at Old Trafford and Courtney Walsh was at Bristol yesterday to lend moral support. Following record receipts at the Cheltenham Festival, where #50,000 was taken on the gate alone, the crowd, 5,000, was the biggest at the county ground since Gloucestershire were beaten here in the semi-final of the 1987 NatWest tournament. They saw Northamptonshire making an untroubled start after Russell had put them in, but it was soon apparent that the batsmen were going to have to do their own hard work. Fordham and Montgomerie, both caught behind off the resourceful Javagal Srinath, could each score at only one run an over. Only Lamb, and later the talented Warren, could score with any fluency and so well was Lamb batting when he was needlessly run out that in another hour he might have put the match even out of Gloucestershire`s theoretical reach. He survived a big shout when he had made only four as Smith`s dangerous inswinger struck his pads - with 55 championship wickets, Smith is up with the best of the left-arm over merchants - but a cut smacked well in front of cover an over later got him going and there was never a time when he was becalmed. Gloucestershire had done the fielding and bowling part of their job uncommonly well A fearless drive from well down the pitch off Martyn Ball easily pierced an off-side protected by only three fielders, but Ball was not daunted and no-one played him so well once Lamb was run out, for 40 off 52 balls. Lamb turned Ball behind square to Kevin Cooper and Rob Bailey, whose call it was, hared down the pitch for a feasible single. Lamb disagreed, responded too late, and was run out easily at the bowler`s end. Bailey settled to play the anchor innings, a little too anchored it seemed at the time, although later events put his 52 in 36 overs into perspective. He lost Curran and Capel in rapid succes- sion, Curran leg before pushing forward outside off-stump with his bat behind his pad - a rare case of an umpire having the courage to give a batsman out when playing no stroke - and Capel caught behind next ball. Ball followed up his tidy spell with a fine, low catch to his left at backward point to dismiss Warren, but not before he had made 55 in 15 overs, striking the ball freely to leg with the in- souciant air of one who finds the game quite easy. He had been badly missed at mid-on, however, by the hapless Hodgson, when he had made only two. Bailey was well taken at deep square-leg from a pull off Alleyne with seven overs left and they were therefore relatively unpro- ductive. Inspired and cajoled by their hyperactive little cap- tain, Gloucestershire had done the fielding and bowling part of their job uncommonly well. The harder part lay ahead. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)