ACTING captain Steve Rhodes was a ton-up hero for Worcestershire on Saturday - and yesterday was being branded a villian.

Rhodes went into the dock for his tactics when bitter rivals Gloucestershire triumphed by three wickets with a ball to spare in their National League Division One clash at Cheltenham.

A question mark hung over his decision to take off Glenn McGrath after he had stunned Gloucestershire by taking three wickets in seven balls without conceding a run.

At that stage Gloucestershire were on the ropes on 76-7 and McGrath had two overs left.

The Aussie ace finally finished with figures of 3-15 but it was still not enough to stop the County suffering their second league defeat of the season.

They remain, however, six points clear at the top of the table.

Set a victory target of 146, Goucestershire's heroes were Chris Taylor and Martyn Ball who put on an undefeated 73 after their side had lost four wickets with the score on 76.

The turning point came, however, when Taylor, on 19, was put down just inside the boundary by young Kabir Ali off spinner Matthew Rawnsley.

Grateful Taylor made the most of his lucky escape by going on to crack 37 not out along with Ball who hit an unbeaten 30.

When the last tense over arrived, bowled by Richard Illingworth, Gloucestershire needed six more runs to gain revenge for their 21-run league defeat at floodlit New Road last month.

Taylor stroked five off the first three balls before Ball finished off the job with a boundary off the penultimate delivery.

Earlier, Worcestershire's innings, after being winning the toss, had been an undistinguished affair with four batsmen -- Ryan Driver, Stuart Lampitt, Ali and Illingworth -- all being run out in a disappointing total of 145-9.

Gloucestershire paceman Mike Smith kept a tight grip on the County in the opening stages and finished with the impressive figures of 9-5-9-1.

Worcestershire's first boundary did not materialise until the 14th over from Vikram Solanki, who was released by England for the weekend.

He eventually became the County's top scorer with 45 which included four fours off 69 balls. He put on 47 in 13 overs with Driver who made 29, including a massive six off Ball.