County Championship: Paul Horton makes Lancashire century

Paul Horton's century for Lancashire was his 21st in first-class cricket

Paul Horton hit an unbeaten century as Lancashire fought back on the second day against Gloucestershire.

Resuming on 322-7, Gloucestershire made 388 all out as Kyle Jarvis took 4-121.

Luis Reece and Alviro Petersen then both fell cheaply, but Horton's 134 not out, supported by Ashwell Prince (57), steadied the Lancashire innings.

But three late wickets gave Gloucestershire hope of a first-innings lead as the hosts closed on 276-6 - 112 runs behind.

Kieran Noema-Barnett trapped captain Steven Croft lbw for 20, and young wicketkeeper Alex Davies was run out for a first-ball duck from the next delivery.

Liam Norwell dismissed Jordan Clark lbw playing no stroke, before Horton and Peter Siddle safely negotiated the final few overs as Lancashire pushed towards a third batting point.

Lancashire opener Paul Horton:

"Every time you get a first-class hundred, you enjoy it.

"You don't get that many throughout your career, so when you do, you have to savour it.

"As a batsman, the difference between being good and great is converting your starts, as you have seen today with Kevin Pietersen converting his start into a 300-plus. Hopefully I can do the same tomorrow.

"We still have some batting points to go for, which is what we want to do first, and then go past them."

Gloucestershire captain Geraint Jones:

"The initial bit where we got beyond 350 was what we wanted to do. We were probably a bit disappointed with that middle session.

"The partnership between Ashwell Prince and Paul Horton was a good one, so fair play to them.

"But we had a good chat at tea about the discipline side of things, how we needed to tighten our bowling up and make it hard for them to score. That's what we did.

"At this stage, to have a 100-run lead with only four wickets left and a new ball in our hands in the morning, it's a good position to be in."