Matt Taylor and Graeme van Buuren produced standout performances with the ball as Gloucestershire made up for lost time on day two of their County Championship Division Two match against Northamptonshire at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.
Following a first-day washout, left-arm seamer Taylor returned figures of 3-48 to take out the top-order, while slow left armer van Buuren claimed 3-23 to rip through the tail as Northants were dismissed for 206 in 63.5 overs in their first innings after losing the toss.
Only Saif Zaib mustered meaningful resistance, the in-form left-hander top-scoring with 76 to take his first-class run tally for the season to 1,268 at an average of 63.4. Stubborn opener Lewis McManus contributed an obdurate 44, but too many Northants batters surrendered their wickets cheaply on a day when bowlers held sway.
Gloucestershire fared no better in the final session, reduced to 40-3 by some incisive new-ball bowling from Northamptonshire’s seamers. Ollie Price and James Bracey then held firm to reach the close unbeaten on 16 and 18 respectively, bad light curtailing play with 11.4 overs unused. The fourth wicket pair will resume on 65-3 in the morning, still 141 runs behind.
Stand-in Gloucestershire captain Bracey won the toss, elected to bowl and looked on from behind the stumps as Northants openers Luke Procter and McManus negotiated the first hour without any major scares on a green-tinged pitch.
Only when Matt Taylor switched to the Bristol Pavilion end did Gloucestershire enjoy success, the left arm seamer hitting the top of Procter’s off stump with a ball that nipped back.
Having chiseled 21 from 40 deliveries with three boundaries, Northamptonshire’s skipper departed with the score on 34. Taylor struck again three balls later, new batsman Calvin Harrison playing on as the visitors slipped to 39-2 in the 14th.
That soon became 54-3, Josh Shaw locating James Sales’ outside edge and Ben Charlesworth taking a tumbling catch at first slip as the home side registered a first bonus point.
Mindful of the need to shore things up, McManus continued to eschew risk as he moved to within seven runs of a half century, but Zaib adopted a more forthright approach, twice driving Ajeet Singh Dale for four and punching Zaman Akhter to the deep mid-wicket boundary as the fourth wicket partnership advanced to 46 by the time lunch was taken with the score on 100-3.
The stand was worth 65 when Taylor made the breakthrough Gloucestershire so badly needed, McManus playing down the wrong line to a ball that hit off stump and terminated his patient innings on 44.
He had faced 92 balls and accrued three fours and Northants were back under pressure at 119-4. Broad never looked comfortable against Singh Dale’s pace and was caught at the wicket for 12 with the score 147-5 as Gloucestershire’s seamers made further in-roads.
Unfazed by events at the other end, Zaib continued to play positively, raising 50 from 78 balls with nine fours and prompting Gloucestershire skipper Bracey to introduce spin in the form of van Buuren from the Ashley Down Road end.
Zaib issued a statement of intent, hoisting the slow left armer over deep mid-wicket for six as he progressed towards three figures.
Bidding to become only the fifth Northants player and the first since Rob Bailey in 1990 to score seven first-class hundreds in a season, the 27-year-old left-hander fell short on this occasion, pushing defensively at a delivery from Akhter and edging a catch behind.
His score of 76 from 112 balls included 10 fours and a six and served to keep his team afloat. Rob Keogh and Aadi Sharma mustered resistance thereafter, the seventh wicket pair making it through to tea with the score 194-6.
Sharma fell soon after the restart, hitting van Buuren’s first delivery high to mid-on where Matt Taylor took a comfortable catch to reduce Northants to 199-7.
Gloucestershire’s experienced all-rounder struck a further blow with his next delivery, pinning Ben Sanderson lbw without scoring as the visitors displayed signs of lower-order fragility.
Ben Whitehouse survived the hat-trick ball, but the home side sensed an opportunity to dismiss their opponents cheaply.
When Keogh was bowled for 13 in the act of playing across the line, van Buuren had claimed three wickets in a remarkable nine-ball burst and Northants were in freefall. Singh Dale wrapped up the innings in quick time, bowling Sanderson for six in the next over, at which point the visitors had lost their last five wickets for just 28 runs in 10 overs.
If Gloucestershire’s intention was to see off the new-ball threat posed by Sanderson, it proved easier said than done, the veteran seamer summoning a superb in-swinger to bowl Charlesworth for 14 in an impressive spell of 1-10 in six overs with three maidens.
Broad then accounted for Joe Phillips, who nicked off to Harrison at second slip, while Procter bowled Miles Hammond as the home side lurched to 40-3 inside 19 overs.
Bracey and Price batted diligently thereafter, staging an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 25 to keep the visitors at bay.
Report supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay
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