Dent century leads strong day for Gloucestershire

Chris Dent made 116 as Gloucestershire's batsmen dominated the opening day of their LV= County Championship fixture against Lancashire at Old Trafford.

The Gloucestershire opener made his second century in four matches as he batted for most of Day One, sharing fifty partnerships with Will Tavare, Gareth Roderick, Peter Handscomb and Hamish Marshall, as the visitors close on 322/7.

Lancashire fought their way back into the match, claiming five wickets in the evening session for 105 runs as the first day ended with a much more balanced complexion. The visitors made a turgid start to their innings, although it was important to see off Peter Siddle and Kyle Jarvis's first spells as the Gloucestershire openers survived the first hour unscathed after winning the toss and electing to bat first.

Progress was slow and Siddle (2-29) in particular was very economical, conceding just 19 runs in his first 13 overs, but once the new-ball pairing had reached the point of exhaustion Tavare and Dent opened up, as they soon had the Gloucester total ticking over at a steady pace.

This was helped largely due to the introduction of Nathan Buck who, on his Championship debut for the Red Rose, had a tough start to say the least. His very first delivery - a waist-high full toss - was whipped away for four by Tavare and a total of ten runs from his first over summed up a disappointing first spell of 39 runs from five overs before he was replaced.

Tavare and Dent shared 81 runs for the first wicket.

Tavare (53) and Dent reached their third consecutive fifty partnership inside 17 overs for the visitors, with the former batsman leading their progression in the morning session with an 87-ball half-century. However, just four balls after reaching this milestone the Gloucestershire opener fell to Jordan Clark (1-45), who encouraged an edge through to Alex Davies with the score at 81/1, claiming this important wicket in his fourth over of the day.

Dent was joined by Roderick as the pair reached lunch without the loss of anymore wickets in what proved to be a dominant session for the visitors. Gloucestershire's second-wicket pairing followed with another fifty partnership before the introduction of left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan, who gave Lancashire another timely breakthrough at 159/2.

Kerrigan (2-55) celebrated his 26th birthday with a wicket with only his tenth delivery of the innings when he forced Roderick (31) to play back into the crease, trapping the Gloucestershire batsman lbw in front of middle stump, after Roderick had passed 2,000 first-class career runs.

This brought the young Australian Handscomb to the crease, who made a name for himself playing for Melbourne Stars in the most recent Big Bash tournament with a century against Perth Scorchers. His aggressive tendencies initially frustrated Lancashire, who continued to struggle after the interval despite the wicket of Roderick.

Dent's patience paid off when he reached a half-century of his own in 111 balls and, for only the third time in 37 innings, the left-handed opening batsman went past 70 as he and Handscomb (22) made the third fifty partnership of the day in only 76 deliveries.

Kerrigan claimed 2-55 on his 26th birthday.

Their partnership also helped the visitors to achieve their first batting bonus point, although Handscomb's aggression eventually led to his downfall when Kerrigan claimed his second scalp of the innings. The Australian came charging down the wicket and attempted to loft the ball back over the bowler's head, but Ashwell Prince made up a lot of ground to take a diving catch over his shoulder at deep mid-on with the score at 217/3.

Marshall proved to be more than able company to Dent as the veteran batsman added a quick fire half-century in 56 balls. The pair made the fourth consecutive fifty partnership of the innings and indeed the quickest fifty stand of the day in just 71 balls, with Marshall doing the majority of scoring as Dent approached three figures.

The New-Zealander hit ten boundaries on his way to his half-century as he and Dent added 81 runs for the fourth-wicket partnership in the evening session, but Lancashire fought back with the new ball, claiming two wickets in four balls to remove both batsmen.

Bristol-born Dent went the entirety of last season without a hundred, but he reached his second century of the campaign and his seventh first-class ton in 199 balls with his ninth boundary taking him to this milestone.

Dent bettered his score of 104 not out which he made against Northamptonshire in the first match of the season as he continued to frustrate the likes of Buck, who suffered a torrid debut, finishing with figures of 0-83 before Siddle and Jarvis (2-80) came back into the attack.

Dent's century spearheaded Gloucestershire's first innings.

Siddle struck in the third over of his new spell when he was rewarded for an incredibly tidy display with the wicket of centurion Dent, as he was caught superbly by Davies who had to dive across first slip to take a one-handed catch to bring his fine innings to an end with the score at 298/4.

Jarvis then accounted for the dangerous Marshall when he was also caught behind, with Davies claiming his fourth catch of the innings to give Lancashire their second wicket in successive overs. The Zimbabwean fast bowler led a purple patch for the Red Rose, as Gloucestershire lost their third wicket for just 15 runs with the new ball paying dividends for the hosts.

Captain Geraint Jones became the sixth wicket to fall when he was bowled by Jarivs for eight, losing his off-stump to the pace bowler who had been superb in tandem with Siddle in the first hour of the day and even better since the second new ball had come in to play, as Lancashire claimed five wickets in the final session.

Lancashire gained control in the final hour of the day with these quick wickets and the hosts had another breakthrough in the final over of the day when Siddle trapped Tom Smith (8) lbw with only two balls left, leaving Kieran Noema-Barnett unbeaten on eight.