Westbury and District CC hosted Thornbury CC in the West of England League Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Premier 2 Division, on 24 Jun, after a gap of five years, hoping to put behind them the defeat against Burbage and Royal Easton the previous week.
Westbury made two changes from last week’s game, with Kane Scott and Luke Dilena coming in for the injured Arron Dickinson and Ian Pinchen, who looks to be out for the rest of the season with a double fracture to a finger.
Having won the toss, Thornbury CC decided to bat first on what looked like a typically high quality playing surface. Thornbury opened with Dan Davis and Tom Bradley and they faced a new Westbury bowling attack of Richie Oakley and Alex Senneck. They started positively and they took the score to 20, when Westbury struck by dismissing Bradley caught behind by Scott (on his first team debut) for 6 off of the bowling of Senneck. Shortly afterwards with the total at 29, Westbury dismissed the aggressive and composed looking Davis for 22, out LBW from the bowling of Oakley. Slade was then joined by the Thornbury captain Luke Davis and they played well but with some playing and missing, much to the frustration of the Westbury bowlers. Then bowlers Senneck and Hudson got on top of the opposition batsman in so much that the total subsided from 73 for 3 to 114 all out. Both Senneck and Hudson finished with 3 wickets each and were ably supported by Andrew Carroll and Brannon Varley.
During the beginning of the Westbury reply there were two brief rain interruptions and there was a distinct threat of further inclement weather to come. With Duckworth Lewis coming into the equation and a reduced target (97 from 35 overs), the home side’s batsmen set about the target with vicious intent.
Westbury opened with Whiting and Coles and they made a blistering start; the first 50 came up off just 40 balls within a mere 25 minutes. With the total on 73 and the game already looking to be going in the home team’s favour, Thornbury struck by bowling Coles for a quick fire and highly entertaining 40. Whiting was then joined by the inform Varley and they took the Westbury team to 97 for the loss of just the one wicket.
Chantry Television man of the match; James Hudson.
