County Championship: Gloucestershire fight back at Hampshire in topsy-turvy game

Aneurin Donald held together Hampshire's second innings

Aneurin Donald marked his return from two years of injury misery with a big-hitting 89 as Hampshire and Gloucestershire's topsy-turvy County Championship match went into an exciting final day.

Welshman Donald had not played since September 2019 due to two serious knee injuries but dug Hampshire out of trouble with a 101-run final wicket stand with James Fuller (32 not out) - which included three sixes in a row.

Gloucestershire were set 368 to win, and makeshift opener George Scott moved to an unbeaten career-best 70 to help his side to 111-2 at the close, with 257 still to win and all three results possible.

Donald's motto for his recovery from two cruciate ligament injuries was "no other way but forward", and it was equally applicable to his approach when he arrived at the crease with his side 65-7.

Hampshire's malaise from the previous evening, when they were 28-4, continued when James Vince nicked Ryan Higgins off four balls into the day before Nick Gubbins followed suit.

Higgins' 2-20 and Mohammad Amir's miserly run-an-over spell sparked Gloucestershire's flying start and the pair ended the innings with three wickets apiece.

Ben Brown under-edged Dom Goodman to the keeper, Liam Dawson slogged to deep square leg and Keith Barker tamely chipped across the line to mid-on, leaving Hampshire 103-9 and the lead 266.

The extra half-hour was taken, which sparked Donald into life. The former Glamorgan batter had to wait 962 days between facing first-team deliveries before a disappointing one run in the first innings and was not prepared to waste another opportunity.

A trio of fours off Higgins warmed him up before three successive maximums off his legs and onto the Eastern Bern, the first of which brought up his 50, sent him into overdrive and turned the game once again back towards Hampshire.

In total, 56 runs came in the additional half-hour, with the usually aggressive Fuller allowing Donald to lead the way - albeit with two lives on 30 and 68.

Post-lunch was a more sedate generation of runs for the duo, both unusually low in the order due to nightwatchmen. The stand ended when Jared Warner pumped in a high bouncer which Donald took on and skied. His and Fuller's efforts meant Hampshire set Gloucestershire what would be their second-highest successful fourth-innings chase.

Scott, deputising at the top of the order for the injured Chris Dent, and Marcus Harris appeared in little danger either side of tea, with the sun coming out to further assist them.

Mohammad Abbas broke the 54-run stand by castling Harris with one which kept low and James Bracey was then pinned lbw going back to Dawson. But Scott continued to chip away, passing fifty for the second time in first-class cricket and moving past his previous best of 55, and Miles Hammond closed on 15 in a stand of 45.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.