DAY 1 Close: Sussex v Gloucestershire 286-9 (PTS: Sussex 3, Glos 2)
Chris Taylor dug Gloucestershire out of an extremely deep hole on day one at Arundel with a very mature innings.
Having won the toss and decided to bat first - a sensible decision given the loose nature of the pitch - the visitors stuttered after a confident start.
Taylor played exceptionally well, particularly against the spinners. He is a great marshall of spin bowling and played over the top and swept to dominate. A loose cut stroke brought his downfall - another failure to covert a half-century into three-figures - but they were vital runs in a crucial match.
Taylor needed support from the lower-order and found it in Jon Lewis, Vikram Banerjee and Gemaal Hussain as Gloucestershire recovered from 142-6.
Abdul-Kadeer played the best innings of his season. He led the batting very well and timed everything extremely well, particularly off the back-foot. But he became caught up in the pressure created by an improved Monty Panesar after lunch and chipped a very soft chance to mid-on.
He wasn't the first, or the last player to give it away when well set. Chris Dent had, again, looked very much a top-order first-class player. He has, however, shown a weakness against spin bowling and tried to force Panesar through the off-side - an area where he had been simply unable to score through - and edged to first slip.
Jon Batty notched up another failure; Hamish Marshall also fell cheaply courtesy of not moving his feet, and Alex Gidman fell over a delivery as the visitors struggled before their fightback.
LIVE coverage continues tomorrow on www.gloscricketradio.co.uk
Official report: www.gloscricket.co.uk
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