Glamorgan 4 for 0 trail Gloucestershire 165 (Harris 59, van der Gugten 5-26) by 161 runs

Glamorgan took control on the opening day of their LV=Insurance County Championship match against Gloucestershire in Cardiff with their bowlers holding sway on a shortened day.

Glamorgan were left with just one over to face before the close with van der Gugten promoted to open. He successfully carried out his nightwatcher duties as Glamorgan closed the day at 4 for 0.

Play got underway on time but just four balls had been bowled before a heavy burst of rain brought play to a halt. That relatively brief shower led to an early lunch being taken after the hover cover broke down in the middle of the outfield.

After a long delay the offending cover was removed but when they did get back underway after an early lunch there were a further 14 balls before a rain shower took the players off the field once again. With the hover cover out of action the ground staff were left with sheets to cover the pitch, which only further hampered clean up efforts.

When play did finally get going it was a watchful start from Gloucestershire, who were happy to see off the excellent new-ball spells of Harry Podmore and van der Gugten. Chris Dent made just 3 runs from 30 balls before he edged one to Chris Cooke off the bowling of Podmore.

It wasn’t until the 19th over that the first boundary arrived. When the first four was struck two more followed closely afterward as James Bracey started to put some pressure back on the Glamorgan bowlers with three boundaries from one James Harris over.

A stand of 66 between Bracey and Marcus Harris was broken in the last over before the tea interval when Bracey poked at a ball outside his off stump from David Lloyd and feathered an edge through to Cooke.

The reintroduction of van der Gugten after the tea break brought four more wickets, all lbw – Miles Hammond, Graeme van Buuren, Ollie Price and Jack Taylor the batters to go. All four were fine deliveries, but Price will rue his decision to leave a ball alone that seamed back into him and struck him on the pads.

There would have been considerable pressure on van der Gugten to lead the attack in the absence of Michael Hogan, who left Glamorgan over the winter to join Kent. On the evidence here, he has taken a big step towards embracing that role this season.

As the wickets fell regularly it was Gloucestershire’s Australian import, Harris, who held things together. Harris only arrived in the UK this week having competed in the Sheffield Shield final at the end of last month. It was a patient innings against a ball that was swinging and seaming, his first boundary coming from the 92nd ball he faced. He had reached 59 when he was the seventh wicket to fall, a full delivery from Harris swinging in and bowling him.

Gohar and Tom Price’s partnership of 46 was the second-highest stand of the Gloucestershire innings, but at this stage it feels as if they are a long way short of a total that will keep them in this match.