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Glamorgan v Gloucestershire | Day One | Shire all out for 165 on day one despite Harris fifty

6 April 2023

It was Glamorgan who took control on the opening day of their LV=Insurance County Championship match against Gloucestershire in Cardiff with their bowlers holding sway on a shortened day. 

Having won the toss, Glamorgan put Gloucestershire into bat and bowled them out for 165. Marcus Harris was the standout performer for the visitors, making 59 from 129 balls. It was left to the late order pair of Zafar Gohar and Tom Price to lead a rescue of sorts, with the pair putting on a vital stand of 46 to take Gloucestershire past 150. 

The Glamorgan attack was well led by Timm van der Gugten who took 5 for 26 to put his side in control of this match. 

Glamorgan were left with just one over to face before the close with van der Gugten promoted to open. He successfully carried out his nightwatchman duties as Glamorgan closed the day at 4 for none. 

Play got underway on time but just four balls had been bowled before a heavy burst of rain brought play to a halt. That relatively brief shower led to an early lunch being taken after the hover cover broke down in the middle of the outfield. 

After a long delay the offending cover was removed but when they did get back underway after an early lunch there were a further 14 balls before a rain shower took the players off the field once again.    

With the hover cover out of action the ground staff were left with sheets to cover the pitch which only further hampered clean up efforts. 

When play did finally get going it was a watchful start from Gloucestershire who were happy to see off the excellent new ball spells of Harry Podmore and van der Gugten. Chris Dent made 3 runs from 30 balls before he edged one to Chris Cooke off the bowling of Podmore. 

It wasn’t until the 19th over that the first boundary arrived. When the first four was struck two more followed closely afterward as James Bracey started to put some pressure back on the Glamorgan bowlers with three boundaries from one James Harris over. 

A stand of 66 between Bracey and Marcus Harris was broken in the last over before the tea interval when Bracey poked at a ball outside his off stump from David Lloyd and feathered an edge through to Cooke. 

The reintroduction of van der Gugten after the tea break brought four more wickets, all lbw, Miles Hammond, Graeme van Buuren, Ollie Price and Jack Taylor the batters to go.

There would have been considerable pressure on van der Gugten to lead the attack in the absence of Michael Hogan who left Glamorgan over the winter to join Kent. On the evidence of today he has taken a big step towards embracing that role this season. 

As the wickets fell regularly it was Gloucestershire’s Australian import, Marcus Harris, who held things together. Harris only arrived in the UK this week having competed in the Sheffield Shield final at the end of last month. It was a patient innings against a ball that was swinging and seaming, his first boundary coming from the 92 ball he faced. He had reached 59 when he was the seventh wicket to fall, a full delivery from James Harris swinging in and bowling him. 

Gohar and Tom Price’s partnership of 46 was the second highest stand of the Gloucestershire innings, an important contribution to the Shire tally just about keeps the away side in it.

Gloucestershire's Marcus Harris said:

"It was on and off with the weather. We weren’t too sure what to make of the wicket this morning, I’ve never played here before so I am not sure what it is supposed to look like. 165 is probably a little bit under what we should have got in the end, going into tea we were two for 70 so I think maybe 220 or 240 was probably par. But there is definitely enough there in the wicket if we bowl well. 

"There is no grass on it at all really, but there is moisture in the wicket all day with the way the overheads were and the rain, so I think the challenge for them today was to keep the ball dry, I am not sure what that is going to like tomorrow with the weather but that was enough there all day with the seamers.

"[The key] was getting yourself in and giving yourself a chance. You never really felt like you were in on the wicket. If felt like it took 50 or 60 balls to feel the pace of the wicket. It felt as though at one end it come on alright and from the other end it didn’t come on as well so it is just one of those sort of wickets, but speaking to the other guys it can be like that here."

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