Howell and Roderick bank runs before the rain
1 April 2018
Two contrasting innings from Gareth Roderick and Benny Howell dominated the Gloucestershire card on the first day of the season against Cardiff MCCU at a chilly Brightside Ground.
Howell, who opened the batting with new captain Chris Dent, made a brisk 89 while Roderick, much more patient initially, went on to accumulate 85 before he retired at the tea interval.
When rain forced an early conclusion to affairs, Gloucestershire had reached 359-5 from 80 overs, Graeme van Buuren (52), Jack Taylor and Ryan Higgins also making useful contributions.
The Cardiff MCCU captain Alex Milton asked Gloucestershire to bat when he won the toss, and Benny Howell registered the first boundary of the summer as he cracked a loosener from Evans to the cover boundary.
Brewster and Zimbabwe born Evans shared the new ball, and the latter was to be Cardiff MCCU's main bowler on the day, taking four wickets across four spells and making the first breakthrough by removing new Gloucestershire skipper Chris Dent (7), caught at slip by Woodland with the score on 32. Around him however, five other bowlers went unrewarded.
It was a day for sweaters as well as the visitors' crimson caps, and as Roderick joined Howell the play soon developed a distinctive pattern, Howell quickly latching onto anything wide or short. A pie chart showing where his runs were scored would have been heavily coloured between extra cover and backward point.
His half century was completed in 66 balls with 11 boundaries, whilst at the other end Roderick occupied the crease as if it was a Championship fixture, content to play a passive role in a century stand where Howell was firmly the aggressor. Clearly enjoying himself, Howell struck the only six of the day when leg spinner Pearce was introduced 20 minutes short of lunch.
At that point Roderick's 21 not out had taken 90 deliveries, and he'd added only two more runs when he missed at slip in Evans' first spell after the resumption. The bowler's disappointment was to prove short lived however, as Howell edged to a diving Cameron Herring behind the stumps for 89 and George Hankins (9) was bowled before he had settled.
Jack Taylor - promoted to number five in a new look middle order - then joined Roderick in a more evenly balanced stand that occupied much of the afternoon, although he too was dropped when on 16, medium pacer Pike being the unlucky bowler.
The new vice captain struck eight boundaries including a cut off Turpin that took Gloucestershire past 200, and he added 80 with Roderick when, on 41, he gave the Herring a second catch off Evans.
By this stage Roderick was more fluent. He had grafted a half century from 142 deliveries with seven fours, but then scored at a run a ball until tea when he retired on 85, allowing Ryan Higgins and Graeme van Burren the chance to spend some time in the middle, albeit in increasingly gloomy light.
Neither allowed the Cardiff MCCU bowlers, now with an old ball, time to settle, and runs came rapidly with the pair adding 89 in 14 overs. Higgins made 43 in even time and Van Buuren continued the strong back foot theme to the day, with nine boundaries in his innings of 52 until Woodland pouched a second slip catch shortly before the rain intervened an hour before the scheduled close.
Latest news
