Northamptonshire 124 for 4 (Coetzer 39, Wakely 36*) beat Gloucestershire 83 for 9 (White 4-14, Azharullah 3-23) by 41 runs
Scorecard
Graeme White took four wickets as Northamptonshire saw off Gloucestershire to claim their first home win in the Friends Life t20 in almost three years.
After the weather saw the match reduced to 12 overs-a-side, Northants batted well in making 124 for 4 with Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer top-scoring by smashing 39 off 25 balls.
Gloucestershire never looked like reaching their target as they collapsed to 83 for 9 with Nottinghamshire loanee Graeme White taking a brilliant 4 for 14 from three overs with Muhammad Azharullah claiming 2 for 23.
This was the hosts' first victory in this competition at Wantage Road since they defeated Lancashire in July 2010 and it gets this year's campaign off to a flyer.
Several rain delays meant proceedings eventually began at 8:10pm after the visitors won the toss and chose to field. Dan Christian then dismissed Richard Levi for 2 in the second over when he chased a wide delivery and was taken by wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick.
Coetzer departed when he chipped Benny Howell to Gloucester captain Michael Klinger at extra cover before the same bowler castled Cameron White after he had clubbed 28 off 20 balls. Alex Wakely bludgeoned 36 off only 19 deliveries before smashing David Payne to Ian Cockbain at long-off with the last ball of the innings.
Chasing 125, Gloucestershire lost Hamish Marshall from the second ball when he got a leading edge from David Willey to Cameron White at midwicket before Chris Dent dragged Azharullah on to his stumps. The visitors then lost two wickets in consecutive balls in the eighth over, bowled by Graeme White, when Christian picked out Willey at long on. Klinger was taken at long-off by Matthew Spriegel after plundering 27 as the game slipped away from the Gladiators.
Five wickets then tumbled for just three runs as Howell was superbly run out by Willey at long-on before White caught and bowled Alex Gidman with the very next ball. White then bowled James Fuller before Azharullah repeated the dose to Cockbain and Gareth Roderick in the penultimate over to compound the visitors' misery.
White rights Northants' poor home record
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White rights Northants' poor home record
