Podmore stars but Panthers denied by rain

Gloucestershire 105-6 (20 ov) v Middlesex
(match abandoned; Middlesex 1 pt, Gloucestershire 1 pt)

Teenager Harry Podmore impressed once again with three wickets but Middlesex were frustrated by the rain at Lord’s.

Chasing only their second win of this year’s NatWest T20 Blast campaign, Panthers bowled superbly to restrict Gloucestershire to 105-6 in their 20 overs.

Podmore, 19, finished with outstanding figures of 3-13 off four overs, and his victims included former New Zealand international Hamish Marshall.

James Harris took 2-22 and Panthers would have been confident of knocking off the runs, but persistent rain meant the players never re-emerged.

Gloucestershire never really recovered from the loss of three early wickets.

Harris removed both openers in his first two overs and Podmore bowled Marshall for just two to reduce the visitors to 16-3 after 26 balls of the innings.

They failed to score a boundary off the bat in the powerplay overs and at halfway were 39-4.

Gloucestershire stepped up the scoring in the latter stages, Neil Dexter going for 14 in the 15th over and Harris 11 in the 17th.

Hammersmith-born Podmore, who took 2-20 on his first-team debut against Essex last week, broke the partnership as he had Benny Howell caught for 39 and he bowled Adam Rouse in the final over.

But the weather closed in before Panthers had the chance to attack the small total and the umpires abandoned the match.

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