Woeful Gloucestershire offer nothing

Nottinghamshire 336 beat Gloucestershire 103 (Kadeer Ali 55*, Ealham 5-31) and 169 (Lewis 55, Ealham 4-44) by an innings and 64 runs
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Points Table

Mark Ealham on his way to a nine-wicket haul © Getty Images

Gloucestershire produced one of the truly abject performances of the summer, losing 20 wickets in 72 overs and gifting title-chasing Nottinghamshire an innings victory inside two days. Their relegation confirmed last week, Gloucestershire did not even appear to be able to play for pride. Their misery was completed when they were docked 1.5 points for a slow over-rate.

Mark Ealham did most of the damage, grabbing 5 for 31 before lunch and adding another four second time round, taking him past 50 wickets in a season for the first time. Only Kadeer Ali offered anything other than token resistence in the morning, carrying his bat for a dogged 55, and as the last rites were being read, Jon Lewis smacked 55 off 26 balls.

A deflated Mark Alleyne, Gloucestershire's coach, said: "As much as you try and motivate yourself and the players, it doesn't work like that. People need something more precious to play for than pride and it wasn't enough."

Nottinghamshire extended their lead at the top of Division One to 24 points, but they have a hard run-in with games at Kent and, in what could be a title decider, second-placed Hampshire. "We've got the only two teams who have beaten us left to play," said Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire's director of cricket. "But we're in front and so we'll be happy if it rains now for two weeks."