Lancashire rally at Bristol despite Miles haul

Half-centuries from Karl Brown (57) and Steven Croft (65) proved to be vitally important as Lancashire were made to work hard for their runs on the first day of their trip to Bristol.

The visitors were bowled out for 275 after being made to bat first on a seamers wicket and Craig Miles (5-61) vindicated the decision to bowl first with a superb display that had Lancashire struggling on 158/6 in the afternoon session.

Glen Chapple made his first appearance of the season despite not being named in the original squad and it was clear that Lancashire were aware of the profitable conditions for seam bowling when they made this decision, fielding five seam bowlers with Simon Kerrigan missing out.

The Lancashire veteran played an important role coming in at number eleven – a rare sight for the Lancashire faithful – hitting his first two balls for four as he helped the visitors to reach a second batting point after a tricky start with a quickfire innings of 29 not out which included a towering six over long-on.

Valuable late-order runs from Jordan Clark (35) and Tom Bailey (30) aided Lancashire’s cause for a respectable total and Gloucestershire found life just as difficult as they reached 15/2 by the close of play, losing both of their openers.

It was a sunny and warm day in Bristol, but the decision to field no frontline spinner demonstrated Lancashire’s intention to bowl first if they had won the toss.

When the Red Rose started their first innings it was clear that the first session was going to be a tough one and the number of times which the ball beat the bat, or an edge landed just short of the slip cordon, added to Gloucestershire’s enthusiasm.

Brown made his first fifty since May 2013.

Paul Horton’s (4) experience and form with the bat this season suggested that he would be the Lancashire opener to weather the storm and emerge with a half-century, but he edged a drive to Benny Howell off Miles as the visitors lost their first wicket with the score at 10/1.

Alviro Petersen continued the pattern of edging deliveries just short of the slips, but the South-African applied himself well in testing conditions as he added 45 runs with Brown for the second-wicket partnership.

The use of his feet has been a trademark element of Petersen’s game and it wasn’t long before Gareth Roderick – who only kept wicket for the first session due to a suspected broken finger – came up to the stumps to discourage him from edging out of his crease.

Petersen continued to use his feet and came down the wicket to a delivery from Matt Taylor that hit him on the toe and, despite coming a long way down the track, he was judged lbw for 20.

Three overs later Gloucestershire claimed their third wicket as countryman Ashwell Prince was bowled for just one by Miles, leaving Lancashire struggling on 56/3 before the lunch interval.

Brown demonstrated patience and superb timing before the interval and he applied rare pressure onto the Gloucestershire attack after lunch, hitting nine boundaries on his way to his first fifty for Lancashire in four-day cricket since May 2013. He reached this milestone in 99 balls, but the opening batsman failed to kick on after reaching fifty, edging onto his stumps off Miles for 57 with the score at 106/4.

Croft and Alex Davies (11) established a respectable partnership as they sought to steady the ship, but the latter fell lbw to Taylor after adding 41 runs with the Lancashire captain.

Lancashire were in a spot of bother and when James Faulkner edged a waft outside the off-stump to Jones for nine, the Red Rose were in danger off failing to reach 200, losing their second wicket in three overs with the score at 158/6.

Croft and Clark both played important roles to help Lancashire build a respectable total.

Clark made a career-best 63 in Lancashire’s last four-day outing at The Oval, displaying maturity and an ability to play a responsible innings after the Division Two leaders had stumbled against Surrey and he played a similar innings today to help Lancashire recover.

Croft has also displayed a touch of class this season and played an important innings when it mattered most as he went on to reach his third fifty of the season to lead the recovery with a captain’s innings.

The Lancashire skipper hit eleven fours on his way to a 68-ball fifty, but Gloucestershire made an important breakthrough just before tea when Miles had Croft out lbw, with this wicket giving Miles a five-wicket-haul against the Division Two leaders.

Clark backed up his fifty from Surrey with another settled innings as he and Bailey added 49 runs for the eighth-wicket stand, guiding Lancashire to their first batting point as conditions eased in the evening session. The Lancashire tail-enders capitalised while the old ball was still in use and Clark altered his calm approach to find the rope five times in his innings of 35.

It looked as if the new ball was going to play an important role for Gloucestershire as Clark and Bailey coasted their way towards a fifty partnership, but Howell struck with two wickets in the space of four balls as the home side attempted to prevent Lancashire from reaching another batting bonus point.

Clark was the first of these wickets to fall in quick succession edging behind to Jones with the score at 239/8 and Kyle Jarvis soon followed for no score when he picked out Ian Cockbain in the deep.

The last time Chapple played a first-class match for Lancashire, he made a vital contribution with the bat against Middlesex at Old Trafford to help keep his side afloat in their bid to avoid relegation and once again the 41-year-old was on hand to deliver an important knock.

Chapple showed no signs of being out of form with the bat, hitting his first ball to the cover-boundary for four, repeating the same shot and result off the very next ball to make a statement about his ability even in the latter years of his career.

His eye-catching innings continued when he hit Taylor for six over long-on, dispatching a half-volley over the ropes as Lancashire reached 250 with their final-wicket pairing doing a superb job.

Bailey struck a late wicket after adding 30 runs.

Bailey had played brilliantly for his 30 runs, an innings that included three boundaries, but he was the final wicket to fall as he was bowled by Taylor (3-67) as the visitors managed a respectable score of 275.

Lancashire had restored parity with a lower-order rally from Bailey and Chapple, who added 36 runs for the final wicket, and the Red Rose made inroads in the ten overs that were left in the day by removing both Chris Dent and Will Tavare before close of play.

The Gloucestershire batsmen found it equally challenging when they took their turn to bat and Bailey in particular created a number of opportunities by beating the bat and getting the occasional delivery to rise at the last minute on Tavare.

Dent (2) made a superb century in the reverse fixture, but he was the first wicket to fall for the home side when he edged behind to Davies off Jarvis, who took his season tally to 39 wickets with the score at 4/1.

Another four runs were added by the time Bailey made his all-round mark on the game, trapping Tavare plumb lbw for four after he had given the Gloucestershire opener a tough time.

Gloucestershire had a near miss before the close of play as night watchman Miles nearly caused a run-out opportunity for a buoyant Lancashire side, but the hosts survived the remaining overs to leave the match evenly poised at the end of Day One.