Bracey, Akther emerge from Glamorgan's stranglehold

A seventh wicket stand of 96 between James Bracey and Zaman Akhter gives Gloucestershire hope at the end of a hard-fought and fluctuating opening day in the Rothesay County Championship Division Two clash with Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens.

Glamorgan looked to have taken complete control of proceedings shortly after tea with leg-spinner Mason Crane (3 for 55) ripping through the visitors' middle-order but Gloucestershire's early evening counterpunch ensures that at 279 for 7 they have a foothold in this absorbing contest.

Having asked the visitors to bat beneath cloudy skies Glamorgan's seamers failed to threaten in the early exchanges as Gloucestershire's openers, Cameron Bancroft and Joe Phillips, serenely progressed to a half-century partnership midway through the morning session. It was a masterclass in low-risk batting, the pair expertly rotating the strike and simply waiting for the bad balls to arrive before duly dispatching them to the boundary.

With the Glamorgan quicks struggling to create chances and sustain pressure, Sam Northeast, turned to Ben Kellaway's spin after just 25 overs of the morning session, a decision which soon paid dividends. With his ninth delivery, Kellaway removed Phillips for 38, the Gloucestershire man's leg-glance superbly caught by Chris Cooke's behind the stumps to give Glamorgan their first breakthrough with the score on 77.

Buoyed by that success, leg-spinner Mason Crane was introduced to work in tandem with Kellaway and found some instant grip and turn. However, Bancroft and Oli Price stood firm to guide the visitors to lunch on 90 for 1, with Bancroft having progressed to an unbeaten 45. A satisfying morning's work having been asked to bat.

The former Australia Test-star looked in ominous form and when he steered Timm van der Gugten to the third-man fence shortly after lunch he brought up his fifth consecutive County Championship score of 50 or more. At that stage, you could have forgiven Glamorgan for fearing the worst, in his last two red-ball innings against the Welsh county, Bancroft had registered 184 and 163 and came into the match off the back of scoring 58 and 176 in Gloucestershire's thrilling draw with Derbyshire last week.

Therefore, the relief among the home players and supporters was almost palpable when van der Gugten trapped the shuffling Bancroft LBW in his next over without any further damage inflicted, the Gloucestershire skipper departing for exactly 50 to leave the visitors on 97 for 2.

Miles Hammond joined Ollie Price and put on 43 for the third wicket, but both men struggled for rhythm and fluency, particularly against the accuracy of Crane, and when left-hander Hammond prodded at a googly, he could only guide it straight into the hands of Kiran Carlson at first slip.

It was the first of three wickets to fall for just 8 runs, Crane picking up Graeme van Buuren caught behind for 4, before Price's stodgy stay came to an end with a mistimed pull shot off James Harris which picked out Carlson at mid-wicket. It rather summed up Price's struggles, his 24 runs coming off 93 deliveries and the visitors were suddenly at a rather precarious looking 148 for 5. By tea, they had limped to 156 for 5 - the afternoon session had yielded just 66 runs in 32 overs for the loss of 4 wickets.

It appeared Glamorgan's stranglehold would continue when Crane picked up the wicket of Ben Charlesworth shortly after tea. The tall left-hander pinned LBW for 16 by a sharp turning leg-break and with Gloucestershire having slipped to 179 for 6, Glamorgan were now firmly in the box seat.

However, the ever-dependable Bracey and Akhter had other ideas, launching an early evening counter-attack which added 96 runs in 24 overs. Akhter the chief aggressor, blazing 58 from just 67 balls with 10 fours before falling LBW to van der Gugten (2 for 45) in the penultimate over of the day. Bracey remains unbeaten on 57 and will hope he can find some more willing allies tomorrow and push Gloucestershire's first innings total towards 300 and beyond.