Alex Gidman led from the front as Gloucestershire moved into second place in Clydesdale Bank 40 Group A with a four-wicket win over Worcestershire at Cheltenham.

First Gidman claimed 3-20 from eight overs after winning the toss to help restrict the visitors to a modest 144-7, Phil Hughes top-scoring with an unbeaten 64.

Then, after Gloucestershire had plunged from 51 without loss to 81 for five in reply, Gidman steadied the ship with an unbeaten 33, sharing a key sixth-wicket stand of 47 with Ed Young (28) as his side won with 12.5 overs to spare.

Spinners Moeen Ali (3-33) and Brett D’Oliveira (2-35) had threatened to bowl Worcestershire back into the game, Moeen grabbing three wickets in his first three overs from the Chapel End to remove Benny Howell, Dan Housego and Ed Cowan.

But Cowan (29) and Hamish Marshall (26) had given the hosts a brisk start chasing down their modest target and Young’s confident 22-ball innings, which included the only six of the game off Moeen, helped Gidman see Gloucestershire home.

The tone of Worcestershire’s innings had been set by the very first ball of the match from Ian Saxelby, which Moeen edged through to wicketkeeper Jon Batty.

Soon it was 21-3 as Vikram Solanki miscued a pull shot off Liam Norwell to James Fuller at mid-on and James Cameron was caught behind driving at Norwell for a duck. Daryl Mitchell then fell to a catch at mid-wicket off Gidman with the score on 48 and Neil Pinner needed two lives to reach 20 before being caught at the wicket to give Gidman his second success.

It became 89-6 in the 29th over when Gareth Andrew was caught low down in the covers by Marshall off Gidman.

All the while Hughes was accumulating, with the regular fall of wickets at the other end forcing him to be cautious. He eventually reached his half-century off 93 balls, including four fours, with the total on 117-6.

Ben Scott was bowled by Saxelby for 14 and Worcestershire’s total looked woefully inadequate on the small College Ground, and so it proved.

Norwell, making his List ‘A’ debut, impressed with 2-21 from six overs, while Saxelby also bowled tightly to take 2-25 from seven overs.

Meanwhile, Worcestershire return to four-day action tomorrow with a crucial LV= County Championship Division One trip to Lancashire (11am).

The New Road outfit remain in the drop-zone and without a win in their eight matches so far, but a return of six draws from those outings means they are still in touch with several sides above them, including today’s Old Trafford hosts.

Director of cricket Steve Rhodes will hope that veteran seamer Alan Richardson can get among the wickets after resting him today.