County Championship: Rain ends Gloucestershire v Lancashire as draw

Miles Hammond and James Bracey batted Gloucestershire towards safety before rain wiped out the last two sessions of their County Championship match with Lancashire at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol.

Only 19 overs were possible at the start of the final day, which began with the home side precariously placed on 99-3 in their second innings, just 34 runs ahead.

Overnight pair Hammond and Bracey experienced few alarms on the placid pitch, both reaching half-centuries in taking the score to 176-3 by the time rain started to fall at 12:20 BST.

Hammond was unbeaten on 58 and Bracey 55 when play ceased, with an early lunch taken and play almost restarted at 14:05, with umpires and teams ready to take the field.

But more rain started to fall and became heavier, to the frustration of the groundstaff, who had been on and off with the covers, and umpires Rob Bailey and Neil Pratt abandoned the match at 15:10.

Lancashire took 14 points to consolidate their position in the top three of Division One, while Gloucestershire's 13 points left them still occupying bottom spot.

The hosts have still not won a Championship game this season in eight attempts, but will take some comfort from having competed well in a closely-fought contest.

Bracey, eager to overcome a poor run of form stretching back to the second match of the Championship campaign, was positive from the outset, cover-driving the opening delivery of the day from Will Williams for four.

Unbeaten on 14 overnight, the England player was the first to his fifty, having faced 90 balls and hit seven boundaries.

Fellow left-hander Hammond followed suit in the same over, bowled by Jack Morley, having just dispatched the spinner over long-on for six.

His half-century occupied 124 deliveries and also featured five fours.

By the time the rain came, Gloucestershire were 111 ahead and, with precious little assistance in the pitch for the bowlers, a draw already looked the only likely outcome.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.

Gloucestershire captain Ryan Higgins:

"It was a good game and we were competitive throughout. I think we are starting to understand how we need to go about winning in this division.

"Some of the pitches we have played on haven't been easy for the bowlers and it has been tough work for us. But if you keep trusting in your processes to win matches, eventually it is going to happen.

"In previous games, we have lost key half-hour periods, which have been costly. I always felt we could bat through today on that wicket, but the two lads still had to go out and do it at the start and that is a positive."

Lancashire head coach Glen Chapple:

"We didn't know what to expect from the weather and I was hopeful of a full day's play. There seemed to be a lot of cloud about, but not much rain to start with.

"A heavy roller on the pitch seemed to take any life out of it. The Gloucestershire lads played well and we weren't able to make the breakthroughs we wanted.

"Other results have been ok for us and we played decent cricket, so nothing has been gained or lost this week and we move on."