Graham Wagg and Timm van der Gugten each claimed a trio of wickets as Gloucestershire were dismissed for 262 by Glamorgan after the visitors had opted to bowl first in their Specsavers County Championship match on a green-tinged surface at Bristol. In reply, the Welsh county had eased to 82/1 by the close.
Close of Play Report
Having slipped to 110/6 shortly after lunch, Gloucestershire’s tail had wagged in the hour and a half before tea, with Craig Miles and David Payne adding an unbeaten 80 in largely untroubled fashion. With the home side resuming on 249/8, Glamorgan’s supporters were hoping that the interval would be coming at just the right time and breaking the pair’s concentration.
So it proved as Timm van der Gugten ended the stand in the third over after tea, with the pair having added ninety runs before Payne was bowled. In the next over Jacques Rudolph did the same to Josh Shaw as Glamorgan were left with 26 overs of the daily quota to face.
Rudolph then opened the innings with Mark Wallace but in the second over the latter spliced a sharply rising ball from Miles and van Buuren in the gully pouched the catch. Rudolph got the scoreboard moving by flicking Payne to the square-leg ropes for four. Will Bragg then began with a booming off-drive for four against Miles followed by a savage pull to fine-leg against Payne.
Rudolph also unfurled a booming drive through mid-on against Miles before Bragg greeted the introduction of Shaw’s medium pace at the Pavilion End by despatching him off the back foot through point. Rudolph repeated the stroke next over with even more power, followed by a sweetly-timed drive through the covers against the young seamer.
Bragg saw Glamorgan to the 50-mark with another off-drive against Shaw before Jack Taylor’s off-spin was used in tandem with Kieran Noema-Barnett’s military medium pace. Rudolph added further to his boundary tally by glancing the latter to fine-leg before Bragg followed suit next over before cutting the Kiwi for four as the ground was bathed in sunshine for the closing overs. The southpaw also cover drove the day's final ball for four - a microcosm of the superiority Glamorgan had enjoyed at Gloucestershire's headquarter's today.
Teatime update
Gloucestershire had reached 98/5 at lunch after a prosperous morning’s work for the visiting attack with Michael Hogan and Harry Podmore resuming the bowling duties, eager to make further inroads into the home batting. George Hankins began the session by elegantly clipping Podmore to square-leg for four before despatching Hogan through extra cover.
But in the third over of the session Kieran Noema-Barnett pushed a ball from Hogan into the covers and set off for a speculative run. Hankins sent him back, but the burly Kiwi could not regain his ground as the arrow-like throw came in from Wagg. Hankins then drilled Podmore through extra cover for another boundary before Jack Taylor scythed the youngster through Bragg’s hands high above his head at first slip, before next ball being dropped as he survived a more straightforward chance at third slip.
Hankins cut a long hop from Podmore through backward point before Taylor did the same to mi-wicket, followed by a rasping cover drive. Taylor then unfurled an unconventional upper cut to swat Podmore over third man for six but his quixotic innings ended next over as he was pinned by a full length delivery from Hogan and departed l.b.w. as the home side slipped to 152/7.
Hankins completed his maiden Championship fifty by straight-driving Hogan for four before drilling Wagg to the ropes at long-off, but his elegant innings was ended by a delivery from van der Gugten which nipped back to hit the top of his off stump as Gloucestershire lost their eighth wicket on 169. David Payne then used the long handle to despatch the Dutchman twice through the covers and to third man for four.
A slashed four through the gully by Craig Miles saw Gloucestershire garner a batting point in the 49th over, shortly before Andrew Salter’s off-spin was briefly deployed in tandem with Hogan. Payne used his feet to dance down the wicket and cover-drive the spinner to bring up the fifty stand as the ninth wicket pair frustrated the visitors. Podmore returned shortly before tea with David Lloyd and Rudoplh himself also entering the attack just before the interval with Payne on-driving Lloyd as the second batting point also loomed.
Lunchtime Report
History was made today at Gloucestershire’s headquarters as Jacques Rudolph opted to take advantage of the new playing condition allowing a visiting team to bowl first as the toss was uncontested for the first-ever time in a Glamorgan match in the Specsavers County Championship.
Rudolph’s decision was vindicated as Gloucestershire lost five wickets in the first session. The clatter of timber began as Graham Wagg who - with Craig Meschede being rested - shared new ball duties with Timm van der Gugten and dismissed Gloucestershire’s Anglo-Australian opening pair of Cameron Bancroft and Chris Dent inside 31 balls. Dent had struck the day’s first boundary as he clipped Wagg to fine-leg, but two balls later the left-armer made the initial incision as he trapped Dent l.b.w. as the double-centurion from last year’s contest at Bristol played half-forward.
South African Graeme van Buuren, on his Gloucestershire debut, arrived at the crease to add further to the cosmopolitan nature of the combatants and he nearly departed first ball as he almost top-edged a swish at a bounder from Wagg. But in his next over Wagg struck again as he clean bowled Bancroft. Gareth Roderick, the home captain, then arrived in the middle and ferociously straight-drove van der Gugten, before van Buuren cut Wagg to the point boundary, followed by a deft glance to fine-leg.
Van Buuren dug out a yorker in Harry Podmore’s opening over before on-driving the on-loan bowler, whilst at the Ashley Down End Michael Hogan settled into a parsimonious spell with the sequence of dot balls eventually ending as van Buuren clipped the tall seamer to square-leg. But with the total on 43, Roderick spliced a rising delivery from Podmore into the hands of Andrew Salter at backward point.
Hamish Marshall announced his arrival by twice cover-driving Podmore, whilst van Buuren also on-drove and pulled successive balls from Hogan for four. Wagg then returned and found the edge of Marshall’s bat as the ball flew over the slip cordon and sped away to the ropes. Van der Gugten also returned to the attack at the Ashley Down End and in his comeback over he had van Buuren caught, albeit at the second attempt, by Chris Cooke at third slip as he dived to his right.
After nearly splicing the Dutchman into the hands of third slip. George Hankins slashed the bowler for four to the point boundary, but with the score on 85, Wagg struck again as an appeal for l.b.w. was upheld against Marshall.