Glamorgan fast bowler Timm van der Gugten believes the Welsh county are in a strong position after the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship encounter with Gloucestershire.
Van der Gugten – who bowled nicely to finish with figures of 3/49 – was speaking at the end of an intriguing day's cricket at the Brightside Ground, Bristol.
Gloucestershire posted 262 all out, thanks largely to a stand of 90 between Craig Miles and David Payne, which the Dutchman ended by bowling Payne for 39.
But after Will Bragg (45*) and Jacques Rudolph (33*) guided Glamorgan to 82/1 at the close, van der Gugten said the visitors hold the upper hand after Rudolph had opted to bowl first – using the visiting captain's perogative.
Van der Gugten said: "We talked about bowling first and getting some early wickets and that's exactly what happened. We just felt that if it was going to do anything, it was going to do it early on in the day.
"However, we had to bowl well too and I think the feeling is that we played better today than we have done so far this season."
Van der Gugten removed three of the top four Gloucestershire scorers, including debutant Graeme Van Buuren for 33, teenage prospect George Hankins for 56 and Payne.
He added: "Personally, it was good to get some wickets and that always makes you feel good. But I thought we all bowled well and that was shown in the fact that the wickets were shared around.
"Yes, we are in a decent position, but if we start well tomorrow and bat all day, we will put ourselves in an even stronger position."
Glamorgan will resume on 82/1 at 11am tomorrow morning.