County Championship: Northants paceman Ben Sanderson stars against Gloucestershire
- Published
Ben Charlesworth was bowled by Ben Sanderson to leave Gloucestershire 10-2
LV= County Championship Division One, The County Ground, Northampton (day one): |
Gloucestershire 164-8: Bracey 77*; Sanderson 4-38 |
Northamptonshire: Yet to bat |
Northants 2 pts, Gloucestershire 0 pts |
Northamptonshire's bowlers dominated against Gloucestershire on a rain-interrupted opening day of the County Championship season.
Seamers Ben Sanderson (4-38) and Gareth Berg (2-32) did the damage as Gloucestershire closed on 164-8.
England's James Bracey top scored with 77 not out, but Ryan Higgins (28) was the only other batter to pass 20.
When play ended, 56.5 of the scheduled 96 overs had been bowled on a day when both sides returned to Division One.
The two counties had been made to wait three years amid Covid-19 restructures to take their place in Division One, having initially won promotion from Division Two in 2019.
And they were made to wait a little longer to get the campaign under way when one of several showers throughout the day delayed the start for 45 minutes.
Berg and Sanderson utilised the early season conditions to reduce the visitors to 24-3, including a sensational catch by Emilio Gay at third slip to remove opener Chris Dent.
Wickets continued to tumble throughout the afternoon, with the batters not helped by further breaks in play, and Gloucestershire found themselves 103-7 when Pakistan international Zafar Gohar was removed by Berg.
However, wicketkeeper Bracey then found good support from Matt Taylor as the pair shared an eighth-wicket stand of 40.
Northants captain Ricardo Vasconcelos told BBC Radio Northampton:
"Sanderson and Berg set the tone brilliantly. We were on and off, so they could bowl a longer spell, but they went at one an over for the first 15 overs.
"Bowlers need rhythm and especially on days like this with the wind howling and coming on and off that's not the easiest thing to do, so credit to our bowlers for sticking at it all day in freezing conditions.
"James Bracey batted brilliantly. He played and missed a lot, but held his line and never followed the ball . That's all you can do as a batter with the ball nipping around like it was and when the time came he put his foot down. Sometimes you've just got to say well played."