On a day when the weather rather than the batsmen dominated, the home team were very much on top after Middlesex ground their way to 73 for four when bad light stopped play.

After four pitch inspections, the umpires finally decided play could start at 4pm yesterday and when it was called off 63 overs had been lost in the day. The Middlesex openers were in subdued form and when Jon Lewis trapped Billy Godleman in front off the 26th ball of the innings they had not scored. Owais Shah registered the first run two balls later, scampering a single, but he limped off with a leg injury in the twelfth over with his side on 18 for one.

Having scored 103 off 51 balls in the Twenty20 quarter-final against Lancashire this week, Dawid Malan’s brief knock could not have been in starker contrast, taking 18 balls to get off the mark before fending off a lively ball from Steve Kirby to Will Porterfield at first slip.

Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgan added 28 runs before Lewis struck when Joyce played across the line to leave the visiting team struggling on 46 for three. Shah returned but when he was caught behind off a lifting ball, their plight worsened.

Gloucestershire confirmed that Ian Fisher, Will Rudge, Carl Greenidge and Mark Hardinges would not have their contracts renewed but Ian Saxelby, 19, the seam bowler and nephew of the former county players Kevin and Mark, who is on trial, made his debut yesterday.

Middlesex: First Innings

B A Godleman lbw b Lewis 0
D J Malan c Porterfield b Kirby 8
O A Shah c Snell b Ireland 15
*E C Joyce lbw b Lewis 13
E J G Morgan not out 23
†B J M Scott not out 6

Extras (lb 2, nb 6) 8

Total (4 wkts, 33.5 overs) 73

M Kartik, T J Murtagh, A Richardson, S T Finn and D Evans to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-18, 3-46, 4-64.

Bowling: Lewis 9-3-12-2; Kirby 11.5-3-21-1; Ireland 8-0-20-1; Saxelby 5-1-18-0.

Gloucestershire: W T S Porterfield, Kadeer Ali, H J H Marshall, M J North, C G Taylor, A P R Gidman, A J Ireland, †S P Kirby, I D Saxelby.

Umpires: M J Harris and V A Holder.