Glamorgan take complete control against Gloucestershire

Glamorgan continued to dominate their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Gloucestershire after building a commanding lead of 223 in Cardiff.

The hosts reached stumps on day two on 388 for eight with the innings built around hundreds from Kiran Carlson and Billy Root as the Glamorgan middle order took the game away from the visitors.

A well made 81 for Eddie Byrom set the foundation for what came after as Glamorgan’s batting line up made a very decent start to the season on a pitch where you had to fight to get yourself set.

The standout performer for Gloucestershire was Marchant de Lange who claimed figures of three for 72 on his return to his old club.

The day started with nightwatch Timm van der Gugten still at the crease and he did not last long, spooning a catch to Graeme van Buuren off the bowling of left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar, who had been given the new ball from the Cathedral Road end.

When David Lloyd was bowled by Tom Price and De Lange cleaned up Sam Northeast, Glamorgan were 35 for three and Gloucestershire looked to be clawing their way back into the match.

Carlson and Byrom had other ideas and shared a stand of 160 that took Glamorgan into the lead.

Byrom was watchful at first before looking to attack once well set, but Carlson was a bundle of energy from the moment he reached the crease, his first scoring shots were back-to-back boundaries off Ajeet Singh Dale.

The stand was eventually ended when Byrom had a dash at a ball outside off-stump from De Lange and Ollie Price took a great catch at a very short gully.

The departure of Byrom did not slow Carlson down, he reached his first hundred since July 2021 from 128 balls.

Return to form

A return to form for Carlson will be very welcome for Glamorgan after the 24-year-old had a disappointing season in 2022.

Carlson’s wicket came when he was trapped lbw by Ollie Price to leave Glamorgan on 253 for five, pushing towards a three-figure lead.

With Colin Ingram dropping down the order due to a neck spasm there was pressure on Billy Root and Chris Cooke to make the most of the strong foundation that had been laid for them, and their stand of 69 took Glamorgan past 300 to claim their second batting point.

With Cooke gone it was left to Root to steady the batting efforts, and other than when he was also the beneficiary of some good fortune when dropped in the slips on 76 his innings was without real drama and contained some very classy shots.

Ingram came into bat at nine but did not see out the day, edging a ball from De Lange with Ollie Price hanging on to a very good catch.

Root reached his hundred just before the end of play as he finished the day undefeated on 104, reaching his century with a cover drive for four as Glamorgan claimed complete control of this match.