Gloucestershire vs Essex – County Championship Division Two – Rain overshadows Cowan’s ton
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746’s Test opener, immediately repaid Gloucestershire’s faith by scoring a ton on his County Championship debut against Essex, despite rain washing out the best part of day two’s play at the College Ground, Cheltenham, on July 12, 2012.
Only 51 overs were possible, two more than the first, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gloucestershire-c785 almost doubling their initial day tally, adding 137 to reach 284 for 4. Cowan again proved his Test capabilities, batting with patience and showing tolerance to mark an impressive start to English domestic.
After receiving his County cap in highly unfamiliar circumstances, his knock had a pretty familiar look. He began the day on 51 and kept on accumulating steadily, leaving the ball, taking a guard outside the crease – anything to cancel out the threat of the opposition bowlers.
His partner for most of the day was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alex-Gidman-c984 after the skipper was caught lbw by Reece Topley. Marshall looked in a relatively aggressive mood as compared to the Australian left-hander – maybe due to his impressive FLT20 form - striking the ball just over 50.
The fourth-wicket stand yielded 104, which further saw Cowan completing his maiden ton. The left-hander scored 12 boundaries and a six before becoming the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783’s favour much to the dismay of the 30-year-old but replays suggested that the standing umpire had made the right call.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ian-Andrew-Cockbain-c63756, who posted a 42-ball 8, epitomizing the nature of a rainy English summer.
All Essex bowlers toiled hard but failed in making quick inroads. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harbhajan-Singh-c61453 was again underutilized but remained ineffective, especially against Marshall. Reece Topley, the most successful bowler on show, was pleased with outing after returning to the side.
"It's not the easiest wicket to bowl on; we've had to remain patient," said Reece Topley. "Thankfully it's swung throughout the innings and that's played to my strengths and I've come up trumps with three wickets."
"I'm pleased to be back in the first team. I've had a good T20 spell and a good 50 over match against the Australians. I've worked hard on my white-ball cricket in the past year and now that's paying off too."
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