County Championship: Akhter leads Glos fightback v Glamorgan

Glamorgan’s decision to bowl first, with Andy Gorvin in for Ned Leonard the only change on either side, looked to be due to the early cloud and the likelihood of the pitch losing its green tinge under the sun on the second day.

But Cameron Bancroft and Joe Phillips had few alarms against Glamorgan’s four-main seam attack with the half-century coming up in the 18th over.

Off-spinner Ben Kellaway made the breakthrough when he had Phillips smartly caught behind by Chris Cooke down the leg-side for 38, but Gloucestershire had 90 on the board by lunch as Bancroft ran well between the wickets.

Bancroft reached 50 off 96 balls but could not go on as he fell over a Timm van der Gugten delivery and was adjudged lbw.

Miles Hammond tried to keep some momentum going before he steered Crane to slip for 31 with the leg-spinner getting turn and then having Graeme van Buuren caught behind for four as scoring became more difficult against the older ball.

Ollie Price batted 93 balls for an obdurate 24 when he pulled James Harris to mid-wicket and Gloucestershire had become thoroughly bogged down by tea with Gorvin’s medium pace particularly economical.

Bracey and Ben Charlesworth stopped the slide temporarily but Crane trapped Charlesworth lbw for 16 at 179-6.

Akhter’s positive approach switched the momentum back to the visitors again as Glamorgan delayed taking the new ball without further dividends for the spinners.

He rode his luck slightly but fared better than most of the top order as the new ball went harder off the bat.

Akhter had faced just 67 balls and struck 10 boundaries but was pinned leg-before by van der Gugten to take the edge off Gloucestershire’s revival.

Glamorgan’s Mason Crane told BBC Sport Wales:

“I thought it was a really good day, it’s a pretty good effort to get seven wickets in a day with these Kookaburra balls on a good wicket as well, so we’re pretty happy with that.

“We built pressure really well, we spoke at the start how it was going to be a slog because these balls don’t do a lot, we knew it was going to be tough work but everyone stuck at it.

“It’s not easy, it’s attritional, and there are a lot of runs to be had for the batters, but it we want to go up (to Division One) this year we’re going to have to go through these games.

“They had a bit of a partnership but the chances were coming and we had our reward (with the dismissal of Akhter). Seven wickets at under three an over, we’re very happy.”

Gloucestershire’s Zaman Akhter told BBC Bristol Sport:

“We finished in the balance, we started nicely, they bowled nicely in the middle session with the spin especially but it was good to get going with Bracey and try to play how I wanted to at my tempo.

“It probably suited the way I want to play, putting bat on ball, I always try to be pro-active towards spin and the new ball was a nice period. I know as a bowler it’s frustrating when someone starts to come at you.

“The new ball was moving around and it felt hard to score when the ball was on the stumps. It was a pretty attritional day with not too much happening with the Kookaburra ball and at the start when I was out there with Brace it was about patience, but when you feel you’re on top you can go properly at it.”