Veteran Collingwood stems Gloucestershire's progress
21 April 2017
On a day when all the home teams in the third round of Championship matches batted first, the feeling at the Brightside Ground was that Gloucestershire had the better of the first day against Durham, even if the scorecard didn't reflect it.
Wickets at the end of both the first two sessions skewed affairs back towards the visitors, as did two more in quick succession after tea before bad light stopped play with Gloucestershire 265-7 from 77 overs, Durham captain Paul Collingwood having been involved in five of the dismissals.
Chris Dent and Will Tavare both passed 50, and Jack Taylor and captain Phil Mustard threatened to do so in a brisk stand as the light closed in until Mustard fell to one of Collingwood's three slip catches for 38. Taylor will start the second day 41 not out.
Listen to Phil Mustard's close of play thoughts here:
Head coach Richard Dawson retained the same side that beat Leicestershire, and it was no surprise at the toss when Durham captain Paul Collingwood joked with Gloucestershire skipper Phil Mustard that he wouldn't need a coin and that Durham would field first.
Their new ball pair of Chris Rushworth and Graham Onions have over 900 first class wickets between them and it was Rushworth who struck first, bowling Bancroft (5) in the seventh over after he was almost yorked the ball before.
With cloudy skies overhead and Mark Wood to come, the expectation might have been that the Gloucestershire batsmen would struggle to get on top of the Durham attack, but with the exception of a tidy opening spell from Rushworth the visitors would have been disappointed with their morning's work until Paul Collingwood's intervention just before lunch.
HIGHLIGHT - Here is the 5⃣0⃣ from @wtav90! Continuing his good form from last week.
Scorecard - https://t.co/lux4bDhPIW pic.twitter.com/TgZusz6age
— Gloucestershire CCC (@Gloscricket) April 21, 2017
The long serving all rounder removed Chris Dent for 59 and Graeme van Buuren without scoring in the same over after Dent and Will Tavare had added 83 for the second wicket.
Dent in particular opened up after pulling and driving Rushworth to the boundary in the same over, and Brydon Carse also saw Dent quickly pick up on anything short. Durham employed four slips for much of the morning, so the covers were sparingly policed and Tavare and Dent made of the most of the singles available to them, albeit with one or two close calls.
Dent's half century came from 75 balls and contained eight fours before he tried to withdraw his bat to Collingwood but was fractionally late and edged a catch to 'keeper Poynter, and when van Buuren was trapped lbw, the morning's card looked deceptively even.
Fresh from making 124 and 88 in a second team game at Headingley, George Hankins joined Tavare after lunch, which Gloucestershire took at 97-3, and the centurion in the win over Leicestershire remained at the crease despite a big appeal for a catch at the wicket off Rushworth in the second over after the resumption.
Wood's second spell was more accurate than his first and a Tavare edge dropped just short of Richardson at second slip, but at the other end Hankins' confidence was evident as he clipped both Rushworth and Collingwood off his legs and drove Carse straight for four towards the pavilion. The fourth wicket stand had been worth 59 when Hankins stood upright to a ball from Carse and got inside a forcing shot towards point and Collingwood calmly took the catch at slip.
Skipper Mustard then joined Tavare, reuniting the partnership which had thwarted Leicestershire on the first evening of last week's match. This time, however, their stand was to be less productive, although Tavare brought up his own half century from 121 balls with five boundaries before being unable to sway clear of a delivery from Rushworth shortly before tea and Poynter took the catch.
Tavare's 61 had taken three and a half hours on a day of ebb and flow which changed gear again after tea with the introduction of Keaton Jennings into the attack. Skipper Mustard bought up Gloucestershire's first batting point, and with Jack Taylor they peppered the boundary boards with a flurry of attacking shots, adding 53 in nine overs until Mustard edged Jennings to Collingwood at slip for 38.
The same combination accounted for Craig Miles shortly afterwards, and David Payne had joined the quick scoring Taylor (41*) by the time umpires Steve Gale and Jeremy Lloyds decided the light was too poor to continue.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 1:
