Championship: Gloucestershire beat leaders Lancashire

Twenty-year-old Craig Miles made his debut for Gloucestershire in 2011

Gloucestershire made it two wins in a row as they inflicted Division Two leaders Lancashire's first Championship defeat of the summer by 91 runs.

Hamish Marshall fell eight runs short of a century as the visitors progressed to 275-9 before declaring.

It left Lancashire with a target of exactly 300, but that was never on the cards after they slumped to 22-4.

Alviro Petersen (63) and Alex Davies (58) added 118, but they were bowled out for 208 as Craig Miles took 4-58.

The final day began with a wicket as Peter Handscomb was run out for 76, bringing his partnership of 134 with Marshall to an end.

Australia pace bowler Peter Siddle claimed 4-39, but it was Kyle Jarvis who picked up Marshall's wicket, bowling him for 92, made from 177 balls.

Lancashire's run chase began disastrously with Luis Reece, Paul Horton, Ashwell Prince and acting skipper Steven Croft back in the pavilion in less than nine overs.

Petersen and Davies both batted well but departed in quick succession and Jordan Clark's 34 was the only significant contribution thereafter before Miles bowled Simon Kerrigan to seal Gloucestershire's win.

Gloucestershire coach Richard Dawson said:

"Everyone in our team performed over the four days. From a collective point of view, it was very pleasing.

"We made a few errors this morning, and our game plan went out of the window. But we fought back very well and showed a lot of character.

"It wasn't a surprise them coming at us and having a crack. That was part of the declaration. It was going to be tough for both sides, but we needed to have enough overs to give it a fair crack."

Lancashire head coach Ashley Giles said:

"It was a hard-fought game, and I thought Gloucestershire played very well. They look an organised side and played some good cricket.

"I thought we started the game slowly and eased our way into it. We were a bit reactive to situations. That left us behind the eight-ball this morning.

"While we lost the game today, we probably lost it in periods before that. We had chances to really put our foot on the throat and be ruthless and we didn't."