Nottinghamshire’s bowlers kept a tight control on things on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Bristol.
The home side, having been asked to bat first by Chris Read, reached stumps on 256 for seven, with Gareth Roderick unbeaten on 88.
There were wickets for all four of Nottinghamshire’s front-line seamers, with Harry Gurney taking three for 56.
Assistant head Coach Paul Franks felt honours were just about even, “We always thought it was going to be a good solid hard days work,” he said.
“We weren’t under the illusion that we were going to bowl them out quickly and get the game moving quickly. I thought we bowled well, we stuck to our task, adjusted our tactics and bowled accordingly.
“All of the bowlers will be happy with the work they put in, on what is a pretty slow and docile pitch on day one, so we come away happy with our work.”
With an unchanged side Notts took to the field under cloudy skies and almost struck straight away.
Luke Fletcher’s second ball of the match thudded into the pads of Cameron Bancroft and brought a vociferous appeal from everyone within range.
Reprieved, Bancroft and his opening partner Chris Dent made solid progress in adding 28 in the first eleven overs before Steven Mullaney was brought on to replace Luke Wood as the first change.
Mullaney, playing his 100th first class match for Notts, claimed a maiden 5-wicket haul when the sides met at Trent Bridge a fortnight ago and he was treated with respect as only six runs came from his six overs.
Gurney gained the initial breakthrough, having Dent lbw for 27 after an opening stand of 45. The batsman barely moved forward until the ball had zipped onto him.
Nottinghamshire ended the morning with a second scalp as Fletcher gained a positive decision for lbw against Will Tavare, who made seven before being undone by a ball of Yorker length which eluded his forward push.
If the match was evenly poised at that stage, Notts grasped it by the neck straight afterwards as they bagged two more wickets to speed the hosts from 67 for one to 77 for four.
Hutton was the man who de-railed the home county by having Bancroft caught behind for 37 and then bowled Graeme van Buuren, via an inside edge, first ball for nought.
The bowler was so close to gaining his first career hat-trick as Phil Mustard edged through the vacant third slip area, at catchable height, for four.
Mustard and Roderick started their innings together and batted for the remainder of the middle session to take Gloucestershire to 159 for four at tea.
The first ball of the final session was worked for a single by Roderick, bringing his partner onto strike. Mustard defended the next ball before nicking the third delivery of the over, giving Read his second catch of the day.
Jack Taylor only made five and perished quickly as he drove Wood into the hands of Cheteshwar Pujara at point.
Roderick’s patient fifty came up from 115 balls, with five fours and the Gloucestershire captain was able to make steady progress through the final two hours, with good support from Kieran Nooema-Barnett.
The New Zealand-born all-rounder played nicely for 35, out of a stand of 65 before falling just before the close.
Gurney returned for one last spell once the second new ball was taken and he fired one through Noema-Barnett’s defences to add a touch of gloss to the performance of the bowling unit.
Roderick stood defiant, and will start the second morning just a dozen runs away from his century.
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