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Steelbacks’ One Day Cup Cup campaign ends in narrow defeat to Gloucestershire Northants’ Steelbacks Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign ended in defeat as they were edged out by three wickets by Gloucestershire at Cheltenham on Tuesday. Darren Lehmann’s side went into the last Group A match still with a slim chance of reaching Friday’s quarter-finals, but as it turned out even a win for Northants would not have been enough thanks to results elsewhere. Indeed, their defeat saw them finish second bottom of Group A, having won three and lost five of their eight matches. Joseph Eckland was the home side’s hero, hitting 68 not out to carry Gloucestershire past Northants 308 all out with four balls to spare, ending a run of five previous defeats at the hands of the County this season! Cameron Bancroft (68) and James Bracey (56) were also in the runs, while for Northants Dom Leech took three for 59 and Luke Procter two for 40. Earlier, skipper Nathan McSweeney hit 79 and George 75 but the Steelbacks were bowled out for 308 in 46.3 overs, with Daz Ahmed taking four for 56. McSweeney and Gus Miller (37) added 73 in 13 overs to set things up for Steelbacks before Bartlett joined McSweeney, with both players registering their sixth One Day Cup half centuries of the campaign. McSweeney went to 50 from 43 balls and the fourth wicket pair raised 50 from six overs. Ahmed returned dismiss McSweeney but Bartlett summoned the perfect response, going to a quickfire 50 via 39 balls. The former Somerset man had struck 12 fours and two of sixes when he attempted to slog-sweep Price and found deep backward square to leave Northants 238 for six. The Steelbacks were intent on improving their net run rate, but their aggressive approach meant wickets continued to fall and they were indebted to Leech and Liam Guthrie for scoring the lower-order runs that got them to 308. Gloucestershire openers Bracey and Bancroft put on 99 in 14 overs before Bracey pulled Miller to deep mid-wicket. The home side were in control, but Procter struck twice in quick succession to remove Ollie Price and Bancroft to leave Gloucester 180 for for in the 31st. Ahmed and Eckland then staged a defiant sixth-wicket partnership to bring a sell-out Festival audience to life. Having struck five fours and two sixes, Ahmed holed out to deep backward square off the bowling of Leech, who pinned Middleton lbw to tilt the contest back in Northants’ favour. Eckland went to 50 from 66 balls and he and Rao then held their nerve in a dramatic finale. The loss means Northants miss out on the knockout stages. They return to action next Thursday (August 20) when they travel to Old Trafford to play Lancashire in Rothesay County Championship Division Two.