First day short-lived as rain sweeps in
27 April 2018
The first day of the Specsavers County Championship match between Gloucestershire and Sussex was short-lived as rain swept in to ruin the first day at Hove.
Salt, 21, was unbeaten on 54 and Wells had contributed 25 to a stand of 86 for the first wicket before rain arrived at 12.30pm. Umpires Martin Saggers and Russell Warren abandoned play at 4pm with no sign of an improvement in conditions after taking an early tea.
Australian Dan Worrall troubled both batsmen during a lively nine-over burst with the new ball up the slope. Salt came down the pitch to try and smear him through the off side and was then struck on the helmet by the next delivery when he misjudged a bouncer and needed to make repairs to his headgear.
But in the last over before the rain arrived, Salt drove Matt Taylor for four then pulled his next ball over square leg for six. A single off the next delivery took him to his second Championship half-century from 59 balls which has included nine boundaries.
Gloucestershire Captain Chris Dent said: "The wicket perhaps didn't do quite as much as we expected, in fact it's a pretty good pitch. Obviously we'd have liked to have taken some wickets but credit to Sussex and especially Phil Salt, who batted very positively."We just need to come back tomorrow, settle in, keep the run rate down and hopefully pick up some wickets."
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