Herschelle Gibbs, Will Bragg and Gareth Rees all made major contributions as Glamorgan scored 350 for eight declared in reply to Gloucestershire's 400 for nine at Bristol.

Jon Lewis (five for 73) and Steve Kirby (three for 58) took the wickets for Gloucestershire, who reached 19 for no wicket by stumps on the third day to extend their lead to 69 in this LV Division Two match.

South African Gibbs top-scored with 96 for Glamorgan before Kirby had him caught behind, and Bragg made 92 before Lewis had him taken at second slip - from his second ball back in the middle after he had earlier retired hurt with a chipped bone on the back of his left hand.

Bragg put on 181 with Rees (82) for the opening wicket before he retired hurt and the 22-year-old will have been disappointed to have missed out on a maiden first-class hundred.

Bragg and Rees survived a few lbw appeals, but apart from that there were few problems for the pair as they stayed together until halfway through the afternoon session.

Glamorgan began the day on 35 for no wicket and the total had moved on to 113 by lunch. Bragg and Rees upped the tempo after the interval and, at one point, took 33 off two overs from Lewis and James Franklin.

Bragg had hit 18 boundaries in total, mainly through the cover or extra-cover regions, when he left the field shortly after being struck by a delivery from Franklin. He went to hospital for an X-ray.

Gibbs helped Rees add a further 37 for the first wicket, and Gloucestershire must have been wondering whether they would get any bowling points on a placid pitch.

Lewis, however, finally provided the breakthrough in the 64th over when Rees was caught by Will Porterfield at second slip off a defensive edge, having struck 10 fours and a six in his innings.

Michael Powell fell in identical fashion two balls later - and then Lewis, in his next over, made it three wickets for no runs in eight deliveries when he had James Dalrymple lbw as he tried to push forward.

That left Glamorgan on 224 for three, but Gibbs and Mark Wallace re-established the innings with a partnership of 100 in 19 overs.

Wallace had contributed 36 when he mistimed a pull off Kirby and fell to a head-high catch by Alex Gidman at mid-on.

Gibbs, meanwhile, had batted with ease and considerable style - and the only hint of a chance came on 91 when he carved a ball from Kirby just short of Ian Saxelby at third-man.

He had struck 13 fours and two straight sixes, both off Chris Taylor, and he looked certain to score a century until he edged a drive to wicketkeeper Steve Adshead to give Kirby his third wicket with the second new ball.

It became 344 for seven when Adam Shantry skied a Lewis delivery to Adshead, who ran 20 yards to his right to take the catch.

That brought Bragg back to the crease, but the left-handed opener was out of luck when he snicked a low catch to Porterfield to give Lewis his first five-wicket haul of the summer.

James Harris and David Harrison added the six runs Glamorgan needed for a fourth batting point, and Dalrymple's declaration opened up the possibility of a more interesting last day's play than had seemed likely.

Gloucestershire openers Rob Woodman and Kadeer Ali batted out the last 10 overs, and Glamorgan will be hoping Gidman sets them a target to chase tomorrow.