Marshall ton forges Gloucestershire fightback

Gloucestershire 296 for 9 (Marshall 112, Taylor 52) v Kent
Scorecard

Hamish Marshall saved Gloucestershire from first-day capitulation against Kent by scoring the 28th first-class hundred of his career in steamy Canterbury.

Marshall rescued the visitors from the perils of 14 for 4 and led them to relative respectability at stumps on 296 for 9 after they had won the toss and chosen to bat.

Extracting decent carry and a little nip off a first-day surface at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Kent's veteran new-ball pairing Mitch Claydon and Darren Stevens shared six wickets, including two apiece inside the opening 18 overs of the match.

The sixth-placed visitors lost Chris Dent 16 balls into the game. Pushing late and down the wrong line to a full-length ball from Claydon, he went lbw for a single.

Four overs later, visiting No.3 Ian Cockbain, in attempting to pull against Claydon, edged through to keeper Adam Rouse to depart for a 12-ball duck.

After an hour at the crease opener Cameron Bancroft pushed at a good length lifting leg-cutter from Stevens to be caught behind then, in his next over, Stevens produced a near identical delivery to account for Gareth Roderick and give Rouse a third catch of the session against his former county.

Marshall's back-foot cut through backward off the bowling of Calum Haggett opened his side's boundary account once Stevens rested following an obdurate 10-over spell of 2 for 10 from the Pavilion End that included five maidens.

Yet it was Matt Hunn, on his season's debut, and Haggett claimed Kent's only mid-session successes. Haggett bowled George Hankins to end a fifth-wicket stand that added 87 in 20.5 overs, then Hunn nipped one down the Canterbury slope to clip the top of middle stump as left-hander Kieran Noema-Barnett played back and across the line.

Marshall might have gone with his score on 35, but Claydon was unable to cling on to a low caught and bowled chance in his follow-through allowing him to reach a 179-ball century with 11 fours.

Kent were left a bowler light at 4.25pm when, after bowling the 69th over, offspinner Adam Riley went off the field with a suspected side strain.

Marshall took full advantage to add 112 in 27.2 overs in tandem with Jack Taylor who looked assured in scoring a 74-ball 50 with seven fours. But Taylor blotted his copybook in the penultimate over before the second new ball by driving a return catch to Stevens for a gift third wicket of the day.

Five deliveries later, Claydon's first delivery of a new spell from the Nackington Road End, lifted, struck Marshall on the gloves and ballooned to Tom Latham at second slip to end his 202-ball stay. Marshall had batted almost four-and-a-half hours for his 112.

Claydon and Stevens shared the second new ball but without success as ninth-wicket partners David Payne and Craig Miles added 39, before Miles edged a loose back-foot force against Haggett to Stevens at slip.

Fresh from his three wickets, Stevens admitted that losing Riley with a side strain was a blow - and neither was he pleased about the tactics against Marshall.

"We spoke about our lengths this morning and we were right on the money in the morning session, but when Hamish came in we pulled our lengths back that little bit too much," said the Kent beneficiary.

"Hamish is international quality. He left the ball really well today. It was like he's been playing here for years, the way he played the slope and left well. We know he loves the short ball and he probably scored 50 or more, square, behind the wicket or down to third man. He hardly scored a run down the ground, so we need to learn from that second time around."

Kent had made three team changes to the side that beat Glamorgan by 10 wickets to move third in the Division Two table on Wednesday.

Opening bowler Matt Coles, suspended for two games under the ECB's disciplinary procedures, was replaced by Haggett. Top-order bat Sean Dickson needed eight stitches in his left hand after cutting himself when trying to repair a fan at his home.

The South African could be out for a fortnight and was replaced by Alex Blake, while Hunn was preferred to rookie seamer Hugh Bernard, who made his first-class debut in the win over Glamorgan.