An elegant hundred by Nick Selman saw Glamorgan make 220 after being put in to bat by Gloucestershire on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match at an overcast The SSE SWALEC. The home bowlers then struck back reducing the West Country side to 62/1 by the close.
Close of Play Report
There were 31 overs remaining when Gloucestershire began their reply after tea and Glamorgan were quickly in the wickets as Gareth Roderick departed to the fifth ball as he edged Timm van der Gugten to third slip where Nick Selman took a good catch diving low to his left. Will Tavare joined Chris Dent and got the scoreboard moving with some nudges and pushes on each side of the wicket. Dent then guided Wagg to third man for three before pulling a short ball from van der Gugten to the ropes at mid-wicket.
Tavare greeted Craig Meschede’s appearance in the attack by clipping him to square-leg for four, followed by a cover drive for three. But the all-rounder had more joy in his third over as Dent miscued a pull and holed out to David Lloyd at square-leg. George Hankins joined Tavare as the Glamorgan bowlers strung together a series of maidens during an attritional passage of play.
Their parsimony duly paid off as Tavare departed l.b.w. to Hogan as Glamorgan picked up a first bowling point with the visitors on 38/3. Hamish Marshall then had a life as he edged Wagg with the ball just evading the outstretched glove of Mark Wallace and bisecting first and second slip. He added another four against van der Gugten to bring up the 50.
Owen Morgan’s spin was then introduced as the light started to deteriorate, whilst Wagg had a trundle in slow mode before the umpires took the players off with an over to go in the stygian gloom
Teatime Update
The morning session from a Glamorgan point of view had belonged to Nick Selman who made an unbeaten 74 against a side for whom he trialled last summer before agreeing terms with the Welsh county. His efforts had seen this side reach 130/3 at the interval and with Aneurin Donald having played some fluent drives off the front foot before lunch, the fourth wicket pair were ready to further consolidate as Craig Miles and David Payne resumed the bowling duties.
But in the fifth over of the session, Donald departed – with his season’s tally on 996 – as he miscued a pull against Miles into Payne’s hands at mid-on. Four runs later Miles struck again as Kiran Carlson was trapped l.b.w. by a delivery which jagged back in to the teenager, with Graham Wagg duly becoming Selman’s new partner with Glamorgan on 141/5.
Selman added further to his boundary tally by on-driving Miles for four, before Wagg edged Josh Shaw through the slip cordon. After a series of further fluent drives by Selman, the opener flicked his 143rd delivery off his legs for two to deep square-leg as he completed his hundred. But his fine innings ended next ball as he was bowled by Matt Taylor as Gloucestershire secured their second bowling point.
172/6 then became 172/7 as Craig Meschede pulled Taylor into the hands of Shaw who ran in from fine-leg as an over which had begun in delight for one Glamorgan batsman duly ended with the side facing further difficulty under the leaden skies against the all-seam attack. Things did not improve either, as four overs later, Taylor bowled Owen Morgan.
Timm van der Gugten then straight drove Shaw for four before swatting Taylor through cover point. Wagg greeted the return of David Payne by cover-driving him for four before the Dutchman clipped the left-armer to fine-leg to bring up the 200 and the first batting point. The pair continued to scramble a series of ones and two but with the total on 215, Miles returned to bowl van der Gugten.
With Michael Hogan at the other end, Wagg used the long handle until the latter chipped a ball back to Miles as Glamorgan ended on 220.
Lunchtime Report
Just like the sound of the first cuckoo marks the start of Spring, there have been several signs in the past few days that we are approaching the end of the summer. The leaves are starting to fall from the trees, children have gone back to school, and the pairings have been announced in Strictly Come Dancing as the BBC’s celebrity dance programme gets ready to warm the hearts during the autumn months.
As far as county cricket is concerned, it’s now a case of 10.30am starts for the remaining three weeks of a season, whilst a number of players move closer to personal milestones. In the case of Glamorgan’s Aneurin Donald, the nineteen year-old is set to become the Club’s youngest-ever batsman to make a thousand first-class runs in a season, with the youngster who last September in Bristol came within two runs of being Glamorgan’s youngest-ever centurion entering the 2016 contest against Gloucestershire with a current tally of 960 runs to his name and requiring 40 runs to erase Matthew Maynard’s name from the Club’s record books.
The Welsh county made one change to their line-up from the team which lost last week in Northampton with Craig Meschede returning in place of Jacques Rudolph with the Glamorgan captain having sustained a neck and shoulder strain. Michael Hogan took over over the captaincy in Rudolph’s absence, with Mark Wallace moving up to partner Nick Selman.
The latter duly got the scoreboard moving in the opening over as he guided successive deliveries from David Payne through the slip cordon for a pair of fours before punching Matt Taylor off the back foot through cover point for another boundary. Wallace then clipped Taylor off his hips to fine-leg before Selman recorded a pair of three’s through mid-wicket and cover against Payne.
In the seventh over, and with the total on 25, Wallace was adjudged l.b.w. to Payne as Will Bragg joined Selman who continued to find the ropes as he drilled Taylor through mid-off before pulling Craig Miles’ first ball to backward square-leg and then clipping the fourth in front of square for another crisply-struck boundary. In Miles’ next over, he slashed him through point for a further four. Bragg then found the ropes as he clipped Payne to mid-wicket as the 50 came up in the 14th over.
But seven runs later, Bragg edged a leg-glance against Josh Shaw into Phil Mustard’s gloves. With David Lloyd as his new partner, Selman flicked Miles through mid-wicket for four and three, followed by a square-cut for four against Shaw. Lloyd then greeted the return of Taylor by edging the left-armer for four to third man but the bowler then yorked the batsman as Gloucestershire secured a first bowling point with the home side on 72/3.
Donald joined Selman who completed his fifty from 66 balls with a rasping square-cut against Shaw – his tenth boundary – before adding another two in successive balls next over as he flicked Taylor to fine-leg before guiding him through point. Donald also found the ropes as he steered Taylor through the gully before striking successive balls from Shaw through the gully and square-leg. The young batsman then drove successive deliveries from Payne through the slip cordon for four before twice cover-driving Hamish Marshall when the veteran Kiwi came on shortly before lunch.