17 wickets fall on second day between Gloucs and Lancs

Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol (day two) Gloucestershire 136 & 58-3: Price 35; Balderson 5-34, Anderson 3-12 Lancashire 240: Jennings 70; M Taylor 6-43, Bell 2-56 Gloucestershire (3pts) trail Lancashire (3pts) by 46 runs with seven second-innings wickets remaining Match scorecard Keaton Jennings staged a dogged half-century to give Lancashire a potentially crucial advantage over struggling Gloucestershire at the halfway stage of a low-scoring County Championship Division Two match at Bristol. The experienced opener defied a seam-friendly pitch and uneven bounce to carve 70 from 110 balls and dominate a partnership of 79 for the second wicket with Josh Bohannon as the Red Rose posted 240 to establish a meaningful first-innings lead of 104. Left-arm seamer Matt Taylor did his level best to keep Gloucestershire in contention, spearheading a spirited fightback with an impressive career-best return of 6-43 from 18.

2 overs as Lancashire were made to work hard for their runs. Shot out for a wholly inadequate 136 in their first innings, Gloucestershire's batting frailties were again exposed as they reached stumps on 58-3, still trailing by 46. Bottom of the table without a point before this game, they face an uphill battle if they are to avoid a third straight defeat.

Resuming their first innings on 124-6, Gloucestershire mustered scant resistance with the bat in the morning session, losing their last four wickets for just 12 runs as they were shot out inside 51 overs. Jimmy Anderson delivered an object lesson in how to dissect a tail, accounting for Taylor, Henry Brookes and Will Williams in a burst of three wickets in five balls to take his tally to 17 for the season, while George Balderson removed debutante Tommy Boorman to finish with 5-34. Having previously taken 14 first-innings wickets at an average of 75 apiece in matches against Middlesex and Durham, Gloucestershire's fortunes with ball in hand have been similarly lacking.

Taylor made the breakthrough when persuading Wells to direct a looping drive to Williams at mid-on and depart for 27 in the 12th over but Bohannon and Jennings held firm to progress the score to 73-1 at lunch. Rather ominously for Gloucestershire, Jennings looked well set and he drove Bell expansively through the covers to bring up the 50 partnership. Making his first appearance of the season, the tall left hander then guided a ball from Taylor through third man to register a chanceless half century from 87 balls via his seventh boundary.