Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by ten wickets shortly before the close of the second day of their Specsavers County Championship match at Cheltenham College.
Close of Play Report
Gloucestershire needed 53 to win with all ten wickets in hand when play resumed after tea with van der Gugten and Salter resuming the bowling. Dent twice swept the latter in an over for four before Bancroft pulled van der Gugten for four to bring up the 100-stand.
Dent then completed his fifty from 80 balls with a pair of firmly struck straight drives against Salter, and the flurry of fours from his bat continued as he pulled van der Gugten to the boards at mid-wicket. A cover drive for four against the Dutchman saw Bancroft complete his fifty from 87 balls, before Dent again straight drove Salter for four. Bancroft then ended the contest by drilling the off-spinner to the boards at long-off before two balls later late-cutting Salter as Gloucestershire completed their ten wicket victory shortly before 4.50pm
Afternoon update
Glamorgan had a lead of 117 runs at lunch and this was soon extended as Chris Cooke biffed the first ball after the interval through mid-on for four, but after a flurry of singles had seen Glamorgan to 150, Norwell trapped Wagg l.b.w. De Lange joined Cooke who responded by cover-driving Norwell for four, but after a couple of singles by de Lange, he spooned Norwell to Jack Taylor at short extra cover. Two balls later Michael Hogan departed in identical fashion as Glamorgan were dismissed for 158 with Norwell ending with figures of 6/38.
This left Gloucestershire with a target of 135 to win and after his first ball duck, Cameron Bancroft clipped the first ball from de Lange to the boards at mid-wicket before on-driving van der Gugten to the ropes at square-leg as well as unfurling a booming off-drive against de Lange.
Chris Dent also found the ropes as he twice cover drove de Lange before working the ball around as Glamorgan strove for a breakthrough with Hogan and Wagg entering the attack. Dent responded by cutting the latter for four before top-edging the left-armer over the head of the slip cordon. A more orthodox drive against Wagg saw the opening pair reach 50 as the highest stand of the game was reached.
Bancroft celebrated by pulling Wagg for four and then biffing de Lange twice through the covers, with Dent also pulling Wagg for four as the home side moved closer to their victory target. However, in the final over before tea, Andrew Salter spilled a sharp return catch from Dent.
Morning update
A series of heavy showers interrupted the warm-ups this morning – a somewhat ironic scenario given that Glamorgan, with a total of just ten hours, have lost less time in four-day cricket this season than any other county, and with Gloucestershire having lost only thirteen – a total equalled by Northants and Sussex – it was fitting that the first day of this historic Festival should be staged under plenty of sunshine in the lee of the Cotswold Hills.
With blue skies overhead from lunchtime, there was no threat of any weather interruption on what proved to be a fast-moving day as 25 wickets dramatically tumbled in the space of 90.3 overs with the swing and seam bowlers all extracting assistance from a surface which also had a hint of steep bounce, as testified by the brutes of deliveries which saw Jacques Rudolph and Cameron Bancroft edge deliveries into the wicket-keeper’s gloves.
When play resumed this morning under grey skies and a hint of rain in the air, Glamorgan were 35 runs to the good with five wickets still remaining as Timm van der Gugten and Andrew Salter looked to mount a riposte. Liam Norwell and David Payne resumed the bowling duties. Salter cover drove the latter for the day’s first boundary before running a series of well-judged singles with the Dutchman.
Van der Gugten then greeted the introduction of Kieran Noema-Barnett into the attack by lofting him over extra-cover for four. Salter twice drilled the Kiwi over mid-off for a pair of rasping fours before bringing up the hundred with an exquisite cover drive against Payne. But next over van der Gugten was adjudged l.b.w. as he played forward to Noema-Barnett.
100/6 saw Chris Cooke join Salter and he began with a thick outside-edge for four to third man but next over Miles removed Salter who got a faint edge into Roderick’s gloves. Graham Wagg before by firmly driving Miles through mid-wicket before Cooke cover-drove the tall seamer for another four as the lead approached three figures.
Wagg then straight-drove Norwell for four before doing the same to Graeme van Buuren on two occasions when the spinner had the final over of the session at the Chapel End.