Lancs strike late after Dent century gives Glos good start
10 May 2015
Chris Dent’s second LV= County Championship hundred of the season ensured Gloucestershire had just the better of day one against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.
Dent added 116 off 247 balls to his opening round 104 not out against Northamptonshire by batting through almost 86 overs of a day which started with Geraint Jones electing to bat.
The 24-year-old left-hander shared in half-century partnerships for the first four wickets as the Nevil Road county closed on 322 for seven from 95.4 overs.
He shared 81 inside 24 overs with opening partner Will Tavare, 78 inside 28 either side of lunch with Gareth Roderick, 58 inside 16 with Peter Handscomb either side of tea and 81 inside 20 with Hamish Marshall.
Tavare and Marshall added 53 and 58 apiece, while Dent and Roderick (31) went beyond 4,000 and 2,000 first-class career runs during their innings - played on a pitch with few demons.
Lancashire’s new ball pair Kyle Jarvis and Peter Siddle built pressure, asked questions at either end of the day and were the pick of the bowlers.
Australian Siddle only conceded ten runs in his first seven overs, and both seamers equally shared four wickets inside the last eleven overs of the day, including one for Siddle with the fourth ball of the day’s final over.
The Division Two leaders generally bowled too short or too full, with Dent’s cut and drive shot proving particularly prolific.
Left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan took two of the seven wickets to fall as the hosts struck once in each of the first two sessions and five times after tea.
Before lunch, Jordan Clark had Tavare caught behind to end Gloucestershire’s third successive opening partnership above 50.
Dent and Roderick took their side beyond 150 midway through the afternoon before the latter was trapped lbw playing back to Kerrigan’s tenth ball, leaving the score at 159 for two in the 51st over.
Kerrigan’s second wicket came in the third over of the evening, the 67th of the innings, when Handscomb miscued an attempted lofted drive, only to see Ashwell Prince complete a superb diving catch running towards long-on from mid-off. That left the visitors at 217 for three.
Bristol-born Dent reached his seventh first-class century off 199 balls shortly afterwards, with this innings his fifth score of 50 or more in first-class cricket this season.
Dent and Marshall, in particular, upped the ante during their fourth-wicket stand.
Marshall’s fifty came off 56 balls with ten fours, but both fell against the second new ball as the score slipped to 298 for five in the 87th over.
Dent was caught behind off Siddle in the 86th before Marshall fell the same way to Jarvis, who also bowled skipper Jones in the 93rd - 313 for six.
Siddle then trapped Tom Smith lbw as Lancashire ended the day on a high.
Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson said: "We've had a good day. I've just said to the lads, don't be disheartened. We did a lot of very good things there. They bowled well in the last hour, which was tough. They got three or four in the last hour. As a general rule, we fought hard there.
"We need to add to that score in the morning. We've just spoken about getting as many as we can first innings and then we'll see. History suggests it spins here later in the game, so there should be a bit there for Tom."
Gloucestershire opener Chris Dent said: "It was one of my best hundreds. We had to fight out the first 45 minutes because it was excellent bowling from Siddle and Jarvis. I had great support from my team-mates."
