Twenty-five wickets tumbled to the seam and swing bowlers on a remarkable opening day of the Cheltenham Festival with Glamorgan being dismissed for 117 shortly after lunch having been put in to bat before Gloucestershire were dismissed after tea for 141 in their Specsavers County Championship match at the College Ground. By the close, Glamorgan were 59/5.
Close of Play Report
Gloucestershire had reached 81/7 at tea as Craig Miles and Kieran Noema-Barnett resumed looking to eke out a first innings lead. Timm van der Gugten and Marchant de Langer returned to bowl with Miles driving the former through the covers for four. But with the total on 91 he sliced a pull against the Dutchman with Wagg completing the catch at mid-on.
David Payne then drove each bowler through extra-cover before splicing van der Gugten over the slip cordon for four. Noema-Barnett also pulled de Lange for two fours to take Gloucestershire in to the lead, which was further extended courtesy of four overthrows as de Lange nearly ran out Noema-Barnett. The latter then drilled van der Gugten through mid-off when the Dutchman switched to the College Lawn End, but next ball the change did the trick as the Kiwi miscued a pull with Cooke running forward to pouch the skier with the home side on 132/9.
With Liam Norwell as his new partner, Payne edged Hogan to third man before cover-driving the red ball captain, but Hogan ended the innings on 141 as Norwell edge to Cooke. This gave Gloucestershire a lead of 24 runs and Glamorgan 17 overs to face before the close as Jacques Rudolph and Nick Selman began the visitors second innings. Selman began by steering Payne to third man before Rudolph clipped Norwell to the boundary boards at square-leg before unfurling another high-class cover drive against the seamer as the arrears were wiped off.
Rudolph also cover-drove Payne before off-driving Norwell for four but later in the over he edged the seamer to Roderick behind the stumps. 36/1 then became 42/2 as Noema-Barnett bowled Selman who became the 22nd wicket of the day beating the 21 which fell on the opening day of Glamorgan’s match against Middlesex at Swansea in 2007.
But this was not the end of the action as the next over saw two more wickets fall with the total on 42 as firstly Owen Morgan miscued a pull against Norwell with Noema-Barnett completing the catch at square-leg before Colin Ingram also miscued a drive to van Buuren in the gully and departed for a duck – not quite the way he was hoping to celebrate his 32nd birthday. Aneurin Donald then cover drove Miles, but in the penultimate over of the day he was bowled by Miles, before Andrew Salter and van der Gugten then saw Glamorgan through to the close of a remarkable day’s cricket
Afternoon Update
Glamorgan lost their ninth wicket to the tenth ball of the session as De Lange edged David Payne to first slip before van der Gugten edged Payne into Roderick’s gloves as Glamorgan were dismissed for 117. De Lange then struck with his first delivery as Cameron Bancroft also edged a rising delivery into Cooke’s gloves.
Will Tavare got the scoreboard moving by clipping the fast bowler to fine-leg before driving him through extra-cover. But De Lange struck again as with the first ball of his third over he bowled Dent, who like Cooke earlier was shouldering arms.13/2 saw Roderick join Tavare and he began by edging another brute of a delivery from the paceman just out of Andrew Salter’s grasp in the gully.
Roderick then pulled van der Gugten for four but next over the Dutchman trapped the South African-born batsman l.b.w. as Glamorgan claimed their first bowling point with the home side on 26/3. Tavare then drilled de Lange through extra cover for four but two balls later he tried to repeat the stroke and ended up edging the ball to Selman at second slip.
30/4 saw Phil Mustard join Graeme van Buuren with the Gloucestershire captain inside-edging a drive against van der Gugten before his partner thick-edged another ball from De Lange which bisected the slips and gully. Wagg then replaced the paceman and was driven through mid-off by Mustard as the Gloucestershire 50 came up in the 19th over.
Van Buuren then carved Hogan over gully for four but two balls later the red ball captain bowled the South African as the home side slipped further to 56/5. Jack Taylor clipped Hogan to the boards at mid-wicket but he then became another l.b.w. victim as the red ball captain struck again. 66/6 then became 68/7 as Mustard was caught behind to give Wagg his first wicket of the match
Lunchtime Report
As if seeking a tonic after successive defeats to Durham and Derbyshire, Cheltenham Spa is the next destination for Glamorgan’s cricketers, with the Welsh county playing once again at the historic Festival at the College ground, and fielding the same eleven which lost last week to Derbyshire under the Cardiff floodlights.
The College ground, with its gothic pavilion and adjoining chapel is a delightful venue in the shadows of the Cotswolds and over the course of the years, it has seen some famous performances by Glamorgan players. In 2006 Michael Powell scored a magnificent 299 and looked like breaking Steve James’ Club record of 309*, whilst in 1991 and again in 2002 Matthew Maynard scored centuries in each innings of the match at the College ground. In fact, these were the only occasions he batted at Cheltenham and was able to boast the remarkable sequence of 129, 126, 140 and 118*.
The conditions were very different however this morning with a heavy cloud cover and spots of drizzle in the air, and it was this which influenced Phil Mustard in opting to bowl first. With Timm van der Gugten having been night-watchman in both innings of the day-night game, the regular opening pairing of Nick Selman and Jacques Rudolph were restored as David Payne opened the bowling.
But the pair only lasted five balls as to the final ball of the first over, Selman drove the ball to Norwell at mid-on and after attempting what proved to be an abortive run, he was run out by Liam Norwell as the opener failed to regain his ground at the striker’s end. 0/1 then became ½ as in Payne’s second over, Rudolph got a rising delivery from the bowler which he feathered into Gareth Roderick’s gloves.
Colin Ingram, on his 32nd birthday, duly made his way to the middle to join Owen Morgan, and struck Payne for successive fours through backward point, before nurdling Norwell through the gully for another boundary. But two balls later he was also caught behind as Gloucestershire’s decision to bowl first was rewarded with a bonus point after just 25 minutes play with Glamorgan on 16/3.
But the home seamers continued to make inroads as five runs later, Liam Norwell found the edge of Owen Morgan’s bat and Cameron Bancroft at first slip completed the catch. Aneurin Donald responded by cover-driving Payne just as the first rays of sunshine broke through the clouds. He then clipped Craig Miles to mid-wicket before drilling him to the boundary boards at extra-cover.
Salter saw Glamorgan to the 50-mark by cover-driving Miles with aplomb before Donald did the same to Kieran Noema-Barnett’s first delivery before Salter found the boards again – this time off a thick edge to third man against Miles. Next over, the bowler enjoyed better fortune as another faint edge ended up again in Roderick’s gloves.
60/5 then became 60/6 as three balls later Chris Cooke was bowled shouldering arms to the Miles as another inside edge cannoned into the stumps. One run later, Noema-Barnett trapped Graham Wagg l.b.w. with a delivery which jagged back in to the all-rounder’s pads. Donald responded by lofting Payne to the boards at mid-wicket but with the total on 72 he became the second l.b.w. victim for Noema-Barnett.
Marchant De Lange then drilled both Payne and Noema-Barnett for four through mid-off before biffing the latter over mid-on for three. Van der Gugten also lofted the all-rounder to long-on for four before the 100 came up shortly before lunch. In the penultimate over of the morning, van der Gugten struck a brace of fours as Glamorgan went to lunch on 113/8.