Taylor refuses to give up on title

12:41pm Friday 5th September 2008

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CHRIS Taylor has not given up hope of Gloucestershire ending the season with silverware despite their defeat to Worcestershire in Pro40 Division One, writes Rob Iles.

The batsman scored an impressive 79 as part of a losing cause as the Gladiators fell just short in pursuit of their high target of 317 meaning that winning the league is no longer in their own hands.

Hampshire’s win over Durham on Monday knocked them off the top of the table and if the Hawks beat Worcestershire on Saturday Gloucestershire will end the season potless.

But with the table so tight at this stage, Taylor knows anything can happen before they face Durham at Chester-Le-Street in the last round of games on Sunday, September 14, and has not written off their chances just yet.

He said: “If we win that game (against Durham) that could give us potentially enough points to win the title but we’re crying for some results to go our way.

“The beauty of the league is that with the relegation everybody is going to be fighting either at the top of the table or at the bottom so there’s not going to be any easy games.

“Worcestershire I know will be fighting to the end and they might have to face a couple of the top teams so some other results might go our way.”

“At least we will go into the game with an idea of what we need to do to win the league.”

Taylor, 32, has been called on to produce a rescue act for Gloucestershire on a number of occasions in the past but as wickets fell around him at New Road, the job became too big as Gloucestershire fell 21 runs short.

He said: “I enjoyed the innings but I would have enjoyed knocking off the winning runs a bit more.”

“It was a case of trying to re-build the innings because we did lose regular wickets. We spoke during the middle and it was the plan to take it down to the last couple of overs and give ourselves a chance of winning the game as opposed to going crazy and getting bowled out. We left too many at the end really.

He added: “We felt we didn’t bowl or field well enough to be honest. They got 20 or 30 too many runs.

Meanwhile, Richard Dawson, 29, revealed to the Gazette that he is looking forward to working with John Bracewell when the former coach returns as Director of Cricket next season.

The former England international off-spinner has now signed a two-year deal with the county after linking up with them three weeks ago, and was convinced it would be the best place to kick-start his career again after being released by Yorkshire and Northamptonshire in recent seasons.

He said: “The lads have made me feel very welcome. I’ve played alright, I’ve bowled alright, and I feel I can offer something to Gloucestershire.

“John Bracewell is coming back next season and I’m looking forward to being part of a good competitive dressing room.”