Morning Report

On an overcast and humid morning in the Welsh capital, the Severnide rivals locked horns in the Rothesay County Championship at Sophia Gardens, in a battle for the promotion places between 3rd and 4th in Division 2. Glamorgan's Sam Northeast, playing his 50th First-Class match for the Welsh county, won the toss and decided to put the visitors to bat first on a typical green and hard Sophia Gardens wicket this summer. 

In the second round of fixtures this season to be played with the Kookaburra ball, Gloucestershire openers Cameron Bancroft and Joe Phillips found it relatively easy to tackle to Glamorgan attack, which was opened by Timm van der Gugten and James Harris. The new-ball bowlers were seen off by the visiting batters, who started playing their strokes to change bowlers in Andy Gorvin and Zain ul Hassan. Shortly before lunch, Sam Northeast decided to go with spinners from both ends, with Ben Kellaway bowling from the River End, and Mason Crane, who was playing his first red-ball game at Sophia Gardens this season, operating from the Cathedral Road End. 

Ben Kellaway got the wicket of Joe Phillips 12 minutes before the lunch break, as the right-handed batter was caught down the leg-side by Chris Cooke for a well-made 38. Cameron Bancroft and Ollie Price settled for a defensive final four overs to ensure that the visitors headed for lunch with only one wicket down. At lunch on Day 1, Gloucestershire are 90-1.

Teatime Report

Tea will taste a lot sweeter for the Glamorgan players, as the afternoon session went exactly as planned, and more. Coming out to bat after lunch at 90-1, Gloucestershire batters would have hoped to carry on the momentum and pile on the runs, but Glamorgan bowlers had different plans. Timm van der Gugten changed ends and managed to trap Cameron Bancroft right in front of the stumps, as the Australian opener went far too across his stumps and was plumb in front of the stumps. 

However, it was Mason Crane who headlined the afternoon session with a classic leg-spinners' spell with the Kookaburra, just like his idol Shane Warne had done innumerable times in Test cricket. After smartly plotting the wicket of Miles Hammond, who was beaten with a leg-spinner and followed up with a wrong 'un the very next ball to find an outside edge to slip, Mason Crane came back to take the wicket of Graeme van Buuren the very next over, caught by Chris Cooke behind the stumps off an fine outside edge.

James Harris replaced Andy Gorvin from the Cathedral Road End, and the plan of having two mid-wicket fielders to Ollie Price worked, as the right-handed batter hit a short-ball straight into the hands of Kiran Carlson, who accepted the gift. Glamorgan kept the pressure going for the final half-hour before tea, but Gloucestershire managed to head into the dressing room with the score at 156-5.