Paul Prichard was a happy man after the first day of Essex's Championship clash with Gloucestershire despite being run out four runs short of his century.

Playing with much freedom, Prichard got an entertaining 96 and Ronnie Irani and Barry Hyam half-centuries each as Essex were bowled out for 268.

Prichard dictated the early exchanges with a series of pulls and cover drives that brought him 32 off the first 39 runs.

And he was within four runs of his century when he played a ball to mid-on and attempted a risky single only to see Tim Hancock swoop on the ball and throw down the wicket at the non-strikers end to leave Prichard stranded.

"It was frustrating to get so close," said Prichard. "It would have been nice to have helped the side reach 300.

"I have been satisfied with my form although I have not seemed to get past 20 or 30 too often, but today things went right for me.

"It was unfortunate that I misjudged the run but I feel I was the victim of a brilliant piece of fielding by Tim Hancock."

There was no such batting satisfaction for county skipper Nasser Hussain as he tried to regain some form ahead of next week's first Test with the West Indies.

The England captain survived nine balls and made three runs before he prodded forward and was trapped lbw.

With Prichard in control early in the innings, the two scoreboards at the Bristol ground were failing to work and it took 75 minutes before they were back in action.

By that time Prichard had passed his season's best of 36 and Paul Grayson was accelerating after a cautious start.

The latter had taken three successive boundaries from James Averis, which posted the county's first half-century opening partnership of the season, when he was dismissed in the 16th over after being caught in the gulley.

Stuart Law then thick-edged a delivery to the wicketkeeper, giving bowler Mike Cawdron his third wicket and leaving Essex on 74-3.

Irani and Prichard combined for a fourth-wicket partnership of 86, with skipper Irani scoring 52 before having his stumps uprooted from a delivery from his opposite number, Mark Alleyne.

A mini collapse saw four wickets fall for 37 and it was left to Hyam and Tim Mason to patiently contribute a valuable 53 runs for the eighth wicket, which took Essex to 250 and their second batting point.

Mason went after scoring 12 runs off 88 deliveries as a rising ball from Alleyne caught his bat handle and gave wicketkeeper Reggie Williams his third victim.

Ashley Cowan was bowled immediately by Alleyne before Hyam reached his second first class half-century before passing his previous best of 51.

But two runs later he nicked Averis to first slip to conclude his three-hour, 20-minute stay at the crease.

Gloucestershire fielded a below strength side, opting to rest key players for Saturday's Benson and Hedges Cup final against Glamorgan.

The home side faced one over before the close and accumulated five runs without loss.

Essex bowler Ricky Anderson is likely to be out of action for a month after sustaining a stress fracture of the little toe on his left foot.

He is stumped as to how he sustained the injury happened but the extent of it became apparent when he went for X-rays after reporting discomfort.

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