Glamorgan score 314-6 on the first day at Bristol

A high class innings of 85 from Matthew Maynard, plus an elegant 64* from David Hemp put Glamorgan into a promising position on the opening day of their County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Bristol, as the Welsh county made 314-6.

Maynard was in vintage form, hitting 13 fours and a six to come within 11 runs of passing 1,000 runs for the 13th time in his career. He was also just 15 runs short of recording his 10th hundred against Gloucestershire, and to equal the feats of Sir Jack Hobbs and Frank Woolley who jointly hold the record for the most number of centuries against the West Country side.

Glamorgan had begun the match in third place of Division Two, 10 points ahead of their opponents who badly need to win this game to maintain their own promotion hopes. The home team suffered an early blow when captain Mark Alleyne and Mike Smith, their experienced bowler, both failed fitness tests, whilst Glamorgan were also without Dean Cosker, following a family bereavement.

After winning the toss, Robert Croft had little hesistation in deciding to bat first, and Glamorgan`s openers, Jimmy Maher and Ian Thomas, then made a sedate start against the accurate Gloucestershire seamers. With the score on 33, Glamorgan lost their first wicket when Jimmy Maher was brilliantly stumped down the legside by Jack Russell as the opener slightly overbalanced trying to glance Ian Harvey off his legs.

Ian Thomas continued to play watchfully, and with Adrian Dale also batting with care, they took the score to 75 when, ten minutes before lunch, Thomas drove a ball firmly back to Martyn Ball and was caught and bowled for 24. Powell began with some firm drives either side of the wicket, but in the tenth over after lunch, he lost his partner as Dale was caught at mid-wicket for 32 with the score on 105.

Dale`s departure saw Maynard arrive at the crease and he was soon on the attack, dispatching anything offline or short, and dealt almost exclusively in fours as he and Powell quickly shared a half century partnership, with Maynard taking his side past the 150 mark with a handsome cover drive off Ball.

Maynard, who scored centuries in both innings when Glamorgan played at Cheltenham last year, was in dismissive mood, with one rasping straight drive off Ball nearly removing the off-spinner`s hand as he tried in vain to catch the ball. Despite losing Powell for 42, Maynard continued in attacking vein hitting Ball back over his head for a straight six to reach his half-century from 69 balls, which also included 10 fours.

David Hemp came in to play a fine supporting role with some sweetly timed off-drives, as Maynard continued his assault after tea, but on 85 Maynard pulled a delivery from Martyn Ball into Jon Lewis` hands at mid-wicket. Shortly afterwards Lewis dismissed Mark Wallace as the Glamorgan wicket-keeper chipped to mid-on, but Croft gave Hemp useful support and the left-hander reached a well deserved half-century from 120 balls with 7 fours. The pair were still there at the close with Glamorgan looking to add at least a further hundred runs when the match resumes tomorrow morning.