By Peter Deeley at Cheltenham
First day of four: Gloucs (94-3) trail Sussex (191) by 97 runs
IT WAS somehow appropriate that in the week commemorating the 150th birthday of W G Grace's birth, the first sizeable batting contribution at this annual festival should come from a player bearing the same initials as the doctor.
The name of Wasim Gulzar Khan hardly trips off the tongue with same universal ring as William Gilbert Grace and he scored a mere 59 but that must be set against the background of another inept batting display from Sussex who, though still third in the table, have not won a championship game for six weeks.
There were four ducks in the visitors' innings, none more dispiriting than the one by their captain, Chris Adams. He evidently does not benefit from the sylvan setting for this was his third nought in succession on the ground, having notched a pair for Derbyshire here last year. This time he lasted nine balls and left having tried much too early in his innings to attack Jonathan Lewis.
Sussex were dismissed by tea against a Gloucestershire attack full of purpose and rhythm with Courtney Walsh claiming three wickets to become the summer's first bowler to pass 50 championship wickets and Jack Russell taking his 700th catch for the county.
Mike Smith made life distinctly uncomfortable for Sussex in the opening overs, getting Toby Peirce bowled via his back leg before Khan and fellow left-hander Michael Bevan rectified matters briefly with a 61-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Khan greeted the introduction into the attack of Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne by hitting his first three balls for four but also had moments of good luck against Walsh, who eventually knocked back his middle stump.
Lewis gained deserved reward when Bevan tried to drive him once too often on the up, dismissed Shaun Humphries next ball and was within an ace of a hat-trick when James Kirtley's edge fell just short of slips.
Sussex were indebted to Robin Martin-Jenkins for any semblance of respectability. He batted nearly two hours for 40 before popping up a catch to short leg to become Walsh's final victim.
Like Gloucestershire this Sussex attack is biased towards seam and their efforts were thwarted largely by the dominance of Tim Hancock whose half-century came off only 76 balls and included 10 fours.
But Bevan got one to turn away from Alleyne to slip in his first over to suggest this may be a low scoring and tightly-fought match.
Day 2: Bowlers enjoy festival
By Peter Deeley at Cheltenham
Second day of four: Sussex (191 & 118-6) lead Gloucs (238) by 71 runs
IT TOOK Gloucestershire nearly seven weeks to earn another batting point - only their 10th of the campaign - but it is once more their bowlers who look like carrying them to victory.
The prized wickets of Sussex captain Chris Adams and Michael Bevan in successive overs late in the day give the home side the sort of advantage that seems to come naturally to them in these festival weeks.
But an attack alone cannot carry a side to the top. The maximum points collected from the two Cheltenham matches last summer proved the peak of their championship challenge and it is time for their batsmen to come to the aid of the party if the momentum is to be sustained this time.
Adams was spared the indignity of a second successive pair on this ground and his relief on scampering a single was matched only by the ironic cheers of the crowd.
He reached seven and then appeared to play Mike Smith to midwicket only for a leading edge to fly to point. Then, at the other end, Martyn Ball had Bevan, before he had scored, groping and edging low to Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne at slip.
Toby Peirce held the disintegrating Sussex batting together, surviving one difficult skied chance off Ball and reaching his half-century after more than three hours.
But it was dour cricket matched only by the gloom overhead after Gloucestershire's highest stand, 48 from Jack Russell and Ball for the eighth wicket, earned the game's solitary batting point.
The visitors took 23 overs to wipe off the first-innings arrears of only 47 and the mystery remains unexplained: why on an excellent wicket with short side-on boundaries only three men so far have passed fifty.
Day 3: Windows is inclined to break free of shackles
By Peter Deeley at Cheltenham
Gloucs (238 & 118-3) bt Sussex (191 & 162) by 7 wkts
AFTER this victory made it a hat-trick of Gloucestershire wins on this ground in the past year, perhaps there is something in the theory that the seductive surroundings of Cheltenham College lure visiting sides to perdition.
There is a tranquility about the setting - the elegant chapel, the austere pavilion, the hovering Cotswolds - yet Gloucestershire play their cricket with full-blooded aggression, never more typified than by Jack Russell (seven catches in the match), an inspiration to his side but who must be one of the most irritating of men to play against.
Twelve months ago, the home side downed Derbyshire and Durham by an innings at this festival and with the present round of championship games in a state of hiatus, this win in less than 2.5 days takes them momentarily to second in the table.
The sternest test of their ability to continue to climb comes next week when leaders Surrey are the visitors.
As Mike Smith showed with match figures of seven for 61, the all-round quality of their seam attack is hard to match in the county game. But the key to further Gloucestershire progress lies in their batting.
They had a fright when setting out to score 116 for victory, and Sussex opening bowler Jason Lewry deserves much praise for the manner in which he set about a seemingly impossible task.
The first ball from the left-arm Lewry sent Nick Trainor's off stump hurtling back and the next delivery had ex-Cheltenham College boy Dominic Hewson fencing in his crease at one which nipped away and took middle and off.
Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne survived the hat-trick ball but Lewry troubled all the batsmen in a superhuman effort against the odds. He trapped Tim Hancock leg-before and Gloucestershire took lunch at a distinctly queasy 33 for three.
It would have been four down if Alleyne had been held at square leg off James Kirtley but he has not been at his best in this match, a factor which may partly explain Sussex's failure. They now slip down the table from third place and have not won a championship game since the beginning of June.
In the final hour, the going was much easier for the victors with Matthew Windows, son of a former Gloucestershire player, becoming only the fourth batsman in the contest to reach a half-century, off as many balls, and at last showing the free strokeplay - hitting 13 boundaries in his 60 - which this pitch has surely justified throughout.
It says much about the real or imagined difficulties the batsmen have endured that the unbroken match-winning partnership of 89 between Windows and Alleyne was only the second to pass the half-century mark in the game.