Matt Taylor pegs home side back after bright start

Glamorgan 283 for 4 (Ingram 84, Tribe 70) vs Gloucestershire

After a frustrating day of no action on day one, Gloucester won the toss and put Glamorgan in to bat on a dampish pitch at Sophia Gardens.

With the previous day’s torrential rain a thing of the past, the home side started well when play began at midday, but then found themselves pinned back by another great spell from Matt Taylor.

Having picked up three wickets for 18 runs in the T20 Vitality Blast final triumph over Somerset, he broke up a flourishing partnership between opener Asa Tribe and Colin Ingram that had accumulated 129 runs for the second wicket with the ninth ball after tea when he trapped Tribe lbw for 70.

Ingram, the first player to reach 1,000 first-class runs this season, was at his fluent best and hit 12 fours as he faced 96 balls in an innings that lasted just over two hours.

Better was to follow from Taylor when he bowled the dangerous Ingram for 84 in the 50th over to make it 209 for 3. Two overs later he had Kiran Carlson caught at the wicket by James Bracey for 1. That made it 210 for 4 to temporarily put the brakes on Glamorgan.

Taylor ended the day with figures of 3 for 43 from 14 overs, including three maidens. The other wicket to fall went to fellow paceman Tom Price, who removed opener Will Smale for 41 thanks to a catch by his brother, Ollie Price.

Smale laid a solid foundation with Tribe as they put on 79 for the first wicket in 17.3 overs. Had the catching by the visitors been sharper then Glamorgan would have had a tougher day. No fewer than five catching chances went down.

Skipper Sam Northeast and Chris Cooke then got together and put on an enterprising and unbeaten 73 for the fifth wicket before rain stopped play once again at 5.39pm. Cooke plundered seven fours in his 43* in 54 balls, while Northeast was for once the more silent partner with three boundaries in his 27 as Glamorgan reached 283 for 4 before the day was closed at 5.54pm.