Honours even as Akhter leads Gloucestershire fightback v Glamorgan

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19 hours ago

Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (day one)
Gloucestershire 279-7 (96 overs): Akhter 58, Bracey 57*, Bancroft 50; Crane 3-55
Glamorgan: Yet to bat
Glamorgan 2 pts, Gloucestershire 1 pt
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Match scorecard
Gloucestershire recovered to 279-7 thanks to half-centuries from Zaman Akhter and James Bracey after Glamorgan leg-spinner Mason Crane had put them in trouble.
It was a day of sharp momentum swings after Cameron Bancroft's 50 took the visitors to 97 before the second wicket fell.
Glamorgan put the brakes on during the afternoon with the Kookaburra ball, with Crane (3-55) inducing a mini-collapse as the batters got bogged down and the run-rate slowed to a crawl.
But Akhter took the attack back to Glamorgan in the final session before falling for 58 in the penultimate over of the day, with Bracey unbeaten on 57 overnight.
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Gloucestershire had the better of the first and third sessions despite being put in after Glamorgan turned the screw in the afternoon.
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.
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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.
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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.