Glamorgan started their LV County Championship season off with the better end of a draw with Gloucestershire at Sophia Gardens.
Standout performances from Kiran Carlson and Billy Root with centuries of 106 and 119 not out respectively led the way for the Welsh County alongside a first five-wicket haul for Timm van der Gugten (5-26).
After winning the toss and bowling, David Lloyd chose to bowl first and despite getting just four balls in before rain came, at the end of day one, Lloyd would’ve been the happier of the two captains.
With conditions playing in the bowlers’ favour, van der Gugten stepped up in absence of Michael Neser to roll the visitors over for 165.
As the sun shined for the rest of the Easter weekend, Carlson and Root piled on the runs, supported by Eddie Byrom (81) to take a lead of 239 when eventually bowled out for 404.
Gloucestershire fought back with the pitch bettering and after posting 569-7 they declared late in day four.
In now testing, spinning conditions, Byrom (36 not out) and Root (39 not out) once again stepped up to get Glamorgan through the day, securing a draw at 110-3.
Speaking to the press after the game, red-ball Head Coach, Matt Maynard said:
“Very happy with the first two days, probably couldn’t have gone much better for us. I think that opening partnership from Gloucestershire in the second innings, they took any sting out of the new ball, played well, rode a little bit of luck early doors but you need that, but played very, very well.
“They made it tough for us and kept on building those partnerships throughout the innings. The good thing is the lads have had 120 overs in their legs, they’ve got used to that which early season will be priceless, we will feel the benefit of that in a couple of weeks’ time against Durham.
“The pitch was very docile. To be fair to the groundsman, Robin Saxton and his staff have done a great job leading up to this game, to get a game of that quality is a testament to the hard work that they have put in for the last three weeks in poor weather.
“It did become docile but early season in Cardiff there is a good chance that’s going to happen anyway even if you have three weeks of dry weather.”
With the first game of the season and 12 points under the belt to kickstart the campaign, Durham awaits on April 20-23 where Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser will be available on their return to Cardiff. (Written by Blake Bint.)