Kumble's effort goes in vain

A tight bowling spell by Indian leg spinner Anil Kumble was unable to stop Ian Harvey from leading Gloucestershire to a 47-run victory over Leicestershire in a first division tie on Monday.

Helped by a fine innings from Harvey (66), J N Snape (71) and M G N Windows (61), Gloucestershire piled 269 for nine in 45 overs and dismissed Leicestershire for 222, with Harvey (4/26) being the wrecker-in-chief.

Harvey cracked 66 runs from 35 balls and added 83 runs in 57 balls for the second wicket with Tim Hancock before Kumble put the breaks on the flow of runs by dismissing both of them.

However, Snape - promoted up the order - struck his best score of the season and combined with Windows to add 130 for the fourth wicket to take his team to their highest national league total of the season.

Leicestershire began disastrously in reply slumping to 44 for 3 in 15 overs before the fourth wicket pair of Ben Smith (77) and Darren Maddy (86) resurrected the innings with 138 runs in 22 overs.

But then Harvey returned to haunt the Leicestershire batsmen and took four quick wickets to carve out a well deserved win for his team.

Brief scores: Gloucestershire 269 for 9 wkts in 45 overs (J N Snape 71, I J Harvey 66, M G N Windows 61, Kumble 3/42, Defreitas 2/46, Maddy 2/44) beat Leicestershire 222 in 45 overs (B F Smith 77, D L Maddy 86, Harvey 4/26, Averis 2/54, Alleyne 2/47).

Mail Cricket Editor