Mike Smith claimed three cheap wickets to give Gloucestershire the better of a rain-affected third day of the match with Sussex at Bristol.

The 32-year-old left-arm seamer dismissed openers Richard Montgomerie and Toby Peirce and Sussex captain Chris Adams in a return of

3-13 from 10 overs.

In-form Michael Bevan made a confident 46 for Sussex but they had little else to cheer as they reached 110 -5 from 39 overs.

Only five overs were possible after a full morning session and it will need some imaginative captaincy to conjure up a positive result today.

Given the overcast conditions, it was a surprising decision by Adams to bat first when he won the toss and it backfired immediately with the loss of Montgomerie and Peirce inside seven overs.

Montgomerie fell lbw as he failed to get sufficiently forward to a delivery from Smith, who then had Peirce superbly caught inches off the ground by Mark Alleyne at first slip.

It nearly became

11-3 in the eighth over, but Bevan escaped on five when Matt Windows could not grasp a catch above his head at point off Jon Lewis' bowling. Adams took four boundaries off Ian Harvey before he played no shot at a Lewis delivery and lost his off stump.

Bevan began to look increasingly fluent and, following unbeaten scores of 65 and 157 in the Benson & Hedges Cup this season, Gloucestershire must have feared the Australian was set for another major innings.

However, he departed four short of a half-century when he attempted to steer a short pitched ball from Harvey over the slips and only succeeded in giving wicketkeeper Jack Russell a catch.

Tony Cottey was next to go when he, like Montgomerie, did not get far enough forward against Smith and was out lbw to a ball that kept a little low.

That left Sussex at 101-5 and just nine more runs were scored before drizzle and bad light prompted the end of play.

Will House failed to score after facing 18 deliveries, while Robin Martin Jenkins had four to his name.

Smith was comfortably the most impressive of the Gloucestershire bowlers, but left-arm spinner Tom Cotterell found a disciplined line and length on his home debut in conceding just nine runs from five overs.

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