HALF-centuries from Phil Weston and Chris Taylor ensured a draw for Gloucestershire in the County Championship Division Two match against Worcestershire at Bristol.

Weston made 61 against the county he served for 12 seasons and Taylor hit 58 as Gloucestershire finished on 163-4 after being set 364 to win in a minimum of 58 overs.

It was never going to be easy for Worcestershire to bowl Gloucestershire out on a placid pitch. And the home side showed no desire to go for their target after visiting skipper Vikram Solanki declared his second innings on 247-9.

Graeme Hick (64) and Ben Smith (59) were the main contributors to Worcestershire's total.

Worcestershire's victory hopes were raised when Gloucestershire lost their two first innings centurions in the opening 14 overs of their second innings.

Craig Spearman was first to go when he was bowled by Kabir Ali for 14 as he attempted to pull a delivery which was not short enough.

Then fellow New Zealander Hamish Marshall, on nine, drove spinner Gareth Batty to mid-on, where Phil Jaques grasped a fine catch diving to his right.

But Weston and Taylor then showed good technique to foil Worcestershire and the match petered out tamely in the final session.

The pair had put on 100 in 30 overs for the third wicket when Taylor got a leading edge to a delivery from Batty and Jaques took a straightforward catch at mid-on.

His 104-ball innings had included nine boundaries, while Weston progressed to his fifth score over 50 in nine Championship matches this season when he took two runs to deep cover off left-arm spinner Ray Price.

Weston's 131-ball innings, which contained four fours, came to an end when he top-edged a sweep off Price to Jaques at leg slip.

Then Alex Gidman and Steve Adshead batted out the last seven overs as the game ended in a draw, from which Gloucestershire took 11 points and Worcestershire 12.