Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Uptonsteel Grace Road, Leicester (day one)
Leicestershire: 113-7 (Van der Gugten 2-43)
Glamorgan: Yet to bat
Glamorgan 2 pts
Title hopefuls Glamorgan hold the upper hand after a stop-start opening day against Leicestershire.
In the 47 overs possible as heavy afternoon showers forced two long stoppages, the impressively consistent visiting bowling attack had their bottom-of-the-table opponents struggling at 113-7.
Each of the five bowlers used took at least one wicket, with Timm van der Gugten claiming 2-43.
After opting to bowl, Glamorgan reduced Leicestershire to 63-4 at lunch on a two-tone pitch.
In an injury-hit line-up, Rishi Patel and Sheridon Gumbs survived for the first hour.
But then Patel and new man Rehan Ahmed were caught in the slips in consecutive overs.
Ahmed was a first victim in Glamorgan colours for Ray Toole, a South African-born left-arm seamer who has joined for the remainder of the campaign following a successful season with Central Districts in New Zealand.
Gumbs, somewhat comically run out after changing direction twice when chancing an always-risky single to gully, was the next casualty, before Hamza Shaikh - on his Championship debut for Leicestershire - feathered a catch behind against Ben Kellaway's off-spin.
Leicestershire lost their fifth wicket when Nick Kelly edged behind.
But, having been off the field for the best part of four hours in total, another 12 overs were possible before the close - and Andy Gorvin pinned Jonny Tattersall in front, before Ben Mike fell to Van der Gugten with two balls left in the day.
Glamorgan, who last won the title in 1997, were promoted as runners-up to Leicestershire in Division Two, but have fared much the better in the top flight.
And their June victory over Surrey - the Championship's dominant force until last season - demands that this year's challenge be taken seriously.
They sit 35 points ahead of One -Day Cup finalists Leicestershire, who still hope for a relegation-defying end to their campaign.
Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.
Glamorgan's debutant Kiwi bowler Ray Toole said:
"It's always a cool challenge to come and play county cricket. I've been playing some club cricket in Lincolnshire. But to be given this opportunity is exciting and a great way to lead into New Zealand summer as well.
"And there's a good vibe in the changing rooms. The team has a goal and a simple plan. It's a matter of controlling what we can control, taking it game by game and hopefully challenging for the championship.
"The pitch has an unusual cut but that's fine. You just have to adapt to the conditions in front of you, control the areas that you bowl and just keep working on the plans that we had. There's a bit of uneven bounce, we didn't expect it to jump like it has. But it's the same for both sides.
Leicestershire assistant coach Dave Whitmore said:
"It's obviously been a tricky day for us. It's always difficult on these sort of days, on and off with bit of rain around and overcast conditions. It's always tricky for the batting team, especially when they bowl like Glamorgan did today - they bowled really, really well.
"But that's encouraging for us because they followed a model in how they went about bowling that we will look to try and implement as well. So it's reassuring for us to know that there's plenty still in the wicket.
"Preparing the pitch that way was something we experimented with against Yorkshire. We felt like it was something that maybe suited us a little bit more bowling-wise and we thought it was worth giving it another go."
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