Gloucestershire coach Mark Alleyne defends 'exciting' Bristol playing surface
Gloucestershire head coach Mark Alleyne defended the playing surface at the County Ground in Bristol after seeing his side slip to a two-wicket defeat to Northants on Monday.
After a clatter of wickets in the opening two days - 20 going down for just 281 runs - things did settle down on days three and four, with Northants actually scoring the highest total of the match in the fourth innings.
Their 251 for eight saw them past their victory target of 249 to secure a second win of the Rothesay County Championship Division Two win of the season, ensuring they end the opening six-match red-ball block very much in the promotion frame.
They are second, 20 points behind leaders Durham and eight clear of third-placed Kent.
As for Gloucestershire, they are rock bottom and already 39 points adrift after suffering a fifth defeat of the campaign, but Alleyne had no problems with the pitch in Bristol despite his team losing again.
Northants head coach Darren Lehmann had branded Saturday's afternoon session as 'mayhem' and stated the pitch was 'probably not good enough', but his Gloucester counterpart didn't agree.
"There has been a lot of talk about the pitch, but I think it's exciting and what people want to see," said Alleyne.
"There's nothing wrong with games going down to the fourth innings and both teams being able to win the match."
Alleyne will have been left to rue the fact he was unable to field leading seamer Gabe Bell on Monday's final day, the 21-wicket Australian missing out through injury.
"Losing Gabe to a sore back made it feel as though things were conspiring against us a little bit after we had done so much hard work," said Alleyne, who saw his side go into the final day needing five wickets to win, while Northants needed 105 runs.
"Our bowling cartel has been small from the outset and it will be good for some of those guys to have a rest now."
Alleyne was also encouraged by his team's performance in defeat, saying the 'competed' across all four days against Northants, and added: "There is a certain level of optimism in the camp, because we have been so competitive in recent games.
"The manner of this defeat is a far cry from those innings defeats we suffered at the start of the season and shows we have made progress.
"We've competed really well from day one to day four here and that's a tick in the box.
"But there comes a point when we just need to get over the line and we have now lost five out of six games, which I think is probably unprecedented for us in Championship cricket.
"It's not a proud moment to be a part of that, but I can see some green shoots of recovery."
Quotes courtesy of ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay