GLOUCESTERSHIRE captain Alex Gidman declared himself satisfied with the first day's play at the Cheltenham Festival, despite a rash of dropped catches.

In the top-of-the-table clash in County Championship Division Two, Derbyshire amassed 326 with the aid of a century from South African Greg Smith and 81 from Australian opener Chris Rogers.

Both men were dropped in the slips with single-figure scores to their names – Hamish Marshall and Craig Spearman the guilty parties – but Gidman was pleased with his side's position as they reached stumps on 10 without loss in reply.

"We know they (Derbyshire) are a competitive team who will always fight throughout any innings, which they did, and it would have been nice to take those early chances," said Gidman.

"But dropped catches are part and parcel of the game – there is no big worry there. I think we stuck to our task pretty well, particularly after lunch.

"We're all aware that Cheltenham is a particularly fast-scoring ground, so you're going to go for boundaries.

"All in all, having lost the toss and been put in the field, I'm pretty happy."

Derbyshire reached the lunch interval with only one batsman back in the pavilion, but hostile spells from Jon Lewis and Steve Kirby at the start of the second session saw them grab two wickets apiece in the space of seven overs.

With the wickets shared around, Gidman was keen to praise the collective effort of his troops.

"There were good contributions all round, as it's been all year, and I think we deserved to bowl them out for what we did," he said.

"I don't think anyone has bowled more than six overs in a spell, and that's generally the way we've operated. It's kept them fresher, and I believe as a batsman it's easier to settle in against a guy for a long period of time."

One worry for Gloucestershire this morning was the fitness of Kirby, who left the field late on yesterday complaining of a tight hamstring.

Gidman added: "Fingers crossed, the physio doesn't seem to think it's anything major, but we're not sure how it will impact on the rest of this game."

● Gloucestershire members are invited to a forum with chairman John Light at close of play today.

● Match report: P39