Australians Cameron Bancroft and Beau Webster helped put Gloucestershire in a commanding position at stumps on day two

Beau Webster has added a second five-wicket haul to his strong debut county season as Cameron Bancroft reinforced that he’s one of Australia’s most in-form red-ball openers with a big hundred for Gloucestershire.

Bancroft went to stumps on day two against Marnus Labuschagne’s Glamorgan unbeaten on 159 from 221 deliveries, helping Gloucester build an imposing 370-run second innings lead after ceding a first-innings deficit of 18.

Webster’s 5-17 from 10.1 overs went a long way to limiting the damage with his side bowled out for 179 on the opening day in Cheltenham after being sent in by Glamorgan skipper Sam Northeast.

West Australian Bancroft fell for a duck on the second ball of the division two match to Dutch seamer Timm van der Gugten, but he more than made up for it 24 hours later as the pitch flattened out and overhead conditions eased.

Gloucestershire found themselves in trouble again as van der Gugten reduced the home side to 2-17, but Bancroft found an ally in Miles Hammond (121 off 110 balls) as the pair set about a rescue mission with a 201-run stand for the third wicket.

Left-hander Hammond reached his hundred first off 94 deliveries before Bancroft eased to his milestone by cutting Kiran Carlson – the seventh Glamorgan bowler used – to the rope after tea.

James Bracey continued the onslaught after Hammond skied a catch to mid-on, posting 90 not out from 117 balls by the close of play in an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 170 with Bancroft, the pair batting through the entire final session without loss to put Gloucestershire in a commanding position.

“He’s a bit of a rock, he scores so many runs,” Hammond said of Bancroft.

“He’s brilliant to bat with just knowing you’ve got a guy like that at the other end who’s very calm.”

The Australian’s sublime knock brought up his third ton of the season, taking his 2024 tally 720 runs at 60 from eight matches.

It’s a stark contrast to his fortunes from last season when he managed 137 runs at 19.57 in four matches for division one side Somerset and was overlooked for a Test squad recall for the Ashes in favour of Marcus Harris and Matthew Renshaw.

The 31-year-old responded with his fourth consecutive Sheffield Shield campaign of 500 runs or more – his 778 last season was only bettered by Webster’s 938 – and the form he’s carried through to this year’s County Championship might’ve seen him edge ahead of Harris and Renshaw in the openers race behind Test incumbents Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith.

Reigning Sheffield Shield player of the season Webster made good use of the favourable bowling conditions earlier in the day, adding the final two Glamorgan wickets to his three on the opening day to help dismiss the visitors for 197.

That included the prized scalp of Northeast and Chris Cooke in the space of three balls in the 34th over with Webster singularly responsible for a collapse of 3-4 on day one.

The Tasmanian continues to enhance his reputation with the ball since becoming a fully-fledged allrounder when he switched to medium pace prior to the 2020-21 Australian summer, and he has become a potent threat with the Dukes in English conditions.

He registered his maiden first-class five-for with 6-100 in May before adding a second overnight to take his tally to 15 wickets in four matches to go with his 168 runs.

Zaman Akhter returned the favour after Labuschagne dismissed him on day one, the right-armer removing the Australian Test No.3 for 19 when he top-edged a pull shot to deep square leg.

Labuschagne toiled hard with his medium pacers the second time around but couldn’t add to his wickets column as his seven overs cost 37 at a rate of 5.29 runs per over.

Elsewhere, Nathan McAndrew picked up two second innings wickets to go with his 3-25 in the first, and he’ll be hoping to add a few more on day three with Northamptonshire requiring a further 147 runs to defeat Sussex.

Peter Siddle also picked up 2-20 to help Durham dismiss Worcestershire for 112 in a low scoring affair at the Riverside Ground, with the hosts leading by 226 with one second innings wicket remaining heading into day three.

There was no play on day two in Southport where two of Test cricket’s most prolific bowlers – Nathan Lyon and James Anderson – are lining up in the same attack for Lancashire against Nottinghamshire.

2024 Division Two County Championship standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Sussex SSX	8	4	1	3	0	2	24	22	132
2 Middlesex MSX	8	3	0	5	0	0	18	18	124
3 Yorkshire YRK	8	1	2	5	0	0	19	24	99
4 Glamorgan GLA	8	1	1	6	0	0	16	17	97
5 Leicestershire LEI	8	0	1	7	0	0	22	18	96
6 Northamptonshire NOR	8	0	1	7	0	0	19	19	94
7 Gloucestershire GLO	8	1	2	4	1	0	20	16	92
8 Derbyshire DBY	8	0	2	5	1	1	14	14	75

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points

Australians in the 2024 County Championship

Durham: Ben Dwarshuis, Ashton Turner (both T20s only)

Essex: Daniel Sams (T20s only)

Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne

Gloucestershire: Cameron Bancroft, Beau Webster

Hampshire: Michael Neser, Ben McDermott (T20s only)

Kent: Wes Agar, Charlie Stobo, Xavier Bartlett (T20s only)

Lancashire: Nathan Lyon, Chris Green

Leicestershire: Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris

Northamptonshire: Chris Tremain (first four matches only), Ashton Agar (T20s only)

Somerset: Matthew Renshaw, Riley Meredith

Surrey: Sean Abbott, Spencer Johnson (T20s only)

Sussex: Nathan McAndrew, Daniel Hughes