A trademark defensive masterclass from captain Cheteshwar Pujara batted Sussex into a promising position on the second day of the rain-affected LV= County Championship match with Gloucestershire at Bristol.
After a delayed start at 1.50pm due to a saturated outfield, the visitors took their first innings total from 47 for one to 302 for four.
The India Test star Pujara led the way with 99 not out, one short of his 58th first class century, while Tom Alsop contributed 67 and James Coles a career-best 74.
Zafar Gohar was the most successful Gloucestershire bowler with two for 67. But even his efforts on a docile surface could not unsettle the patient Pujara who by the close had faced 190 balls and hit 13 fours and a six.
Warm sunshine and a drying breeze dispelled fears of a second day washout after only 16 overs had been possible on day one before persistent heavy rain created casual water on an already wet outfield.
Umpires Billy Taylor and Mark Newell decided that play could resume after inspections at 11am, 12.30pm and 1.20pm. Gloucestershire skipper Graeme van Buuren opted to open the bowling with left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar and it soon paid dividends.
Ali Orr, having added five to his overnight score of 31, went to reverse sweep the first ball of the third over and only succeeded in top-edging a gentle catch to wicketkeeper James Bracey, making the score 58 for two.
Having advanced from 11 to 34, Alsop survived a sharp chance to Miles Hammond at gully off Marchant de Lange, the ball stinging the tips of the fielder’s fingers on the way to the third-man boundary.
It was all the good fortune the Sussex left-hander needed to progress to fifty, off 123 balls, with six fours, out of a total of 111 for two.
Ominously for Gloucestershire, Pujara looked to be setting his stall out for a long innings from the moment he took strike.
The experienced India Test batsman exercised great caution, particularly against the accurate de Lange, who had figures of one for 17 after 11 overs, four of them maidens.
Pujara took 78 balls to reach 19 but then cut loose with a pulled four off de Lange and a square cut boundary off Gohar.
By tea, which was taken at 4pm, Sussex had made 138 for two from 49 overs, with Alsop on 63 and Pujara on 28. The visitors were clearly intent on only batting once in a match already heavily curtailed by the weather.
The final session began with Ajeet Dale going past the inside edge of Alsop’s bat, the ball swinging late and beating Bracey to add four byes to the total.
Dale troubled both batsmen from the Ashley Down Road End, working up decent pace on the slow pitch, and got his reward when Alsop edged a defensive shot to first slip where Chris Dent held the catch into his midriff.
At 158 for three, Sussex needed to rebuild. But by then Pujara had moved on to 40 off 108 deliveries and looked well set. He was joined by a player more than 16 years his junior in England Under-19 international James Coles.
With the Seat Unique Stadium bathed in sunshine, Pujara moved to his half-century, having batted for almost exactly three hours and hit eight fours.
He celebrated with a glorious extra cover driven boundary off van Buuren, an indication of the fund of attacking shots in his locker when he chooses to unleash them, while Coles looked untroubled in sharing a century stand in 24 overs.
The nearest Pujara came to getting out was an inside edge past his leg stump off Gofar. He responded by cutting two boundaries off the left-arm spinner’s next over.
Gloucestershire took the second new ball after 80 overs, with the scoreboard reading 258 for three. But it made no impact as Coles reached a fluent and chanceless fifty off 85 balls, with six fours.
The 19-year-old fell in the final over of the day, stumped moving down the pitch to Gohar in what looked like an effort to give Pujara the strike.
The Indian maestro is unlikely to lose any sleep over being on 99 and will look to add significantly more tomorrow.
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Gloucestershire’s Pakistani spinner Zafar Gohar said: “It is always a challenge bowling to great players like Pujara. I have faced many back in my home country and it can often be more of a mental battle than anything.
“They try to mess with your mind, coming down the wicket to try to disrupt your line and length, so you have to concentrate on every ball.
“It was good to get a wicket in the final over of what was a tough day for us. Tomorrow I think both sides will be focusing on bonus points, with so much time in the game already lost.
“It is a flat pitch and it was great to see Marchant de Lange and Ajeet Dale running in doing their best to hit the surface hard.
“I just tried to keep things tight and restrict the scoring rate. In that respect, I think we did pretty well as a team.”
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Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: “It was a very good day for us. The ground staff worked incredibly hard to make conditions playable because when we arrived we feared we might spend all day watching the grass grow.
“Pujara shows such patience when batting and is a great lesson to anyone playing county cricket. The longer you bat, the easier the game becomes.
“The Gloucestershire bowlers did well and made him work hard for every run. But he played exceptionally well and hopefully will get a few more tomorrow.
“We want the best overseas players in county cricket so our young players can bat and bowl with them. The experience James Coles has gained batting out there today with Pujara you can’t buy.
“I thought he might have got out in the final over looking to rotate the strike with his partner on 99. But he assures me he was trying to hit the spinner back over his head for another boundary.
“That’s a sign of his confidence. He will feel disappointed at letting the chance of a century slip by but it is his first game of the season and he has taken his chance really well.”
