From Glenn Moore at Lord’s

Ian Cockbain, Gloucestershire’s centurion, admitted victory seemed a distant prospect when he and Benny Howell came together with the west countrymen 65-5 against Middlesex at Lord’s.

The pair put together an unbeaten 192-run sixth-wicket partnership to earn Glos their first Royal London Cup win but Cockbain said: “It did seem a long way away. We just tried to take it as deep as we could and hope to be in touching distance when the last ten overs came. If me or Benny got out then the game was almost done and dusted which was a big factor in the way I batted. Benny struck it beautifully from ball one which took some of the pressure off me.”

In this season’s Royal London Cup only the top three in each nine-county group progress to the knock-out stages. Having lost their opening game Gloucestershire could not afford another defeat and Cockbain said: “We need to get wins under our belt and hope to take this momentum into our next match against Essex.”