Westbury and District CC travelled to Cheltenham for their latest encounter in the West of England Premier League Division 2.
Having lost the toss on what looked like a good wicket for bowling, the opposition chose to bat first and this seemed a poor decision when Cheltenham were reduced to 12-2 in the third over.
After a period of consolidation the Cheltenham batsmen rebuilt and soon started to pile on the runs and they were soon heading towards the 100 mark (Peter Woodland 50 and Kieran Smith 40) and looking to build a large total from their 50 overs.
At 100-3 after 25 overs, Westbury were looking in control with James Hudson bowling a tight spell of off spin (2-27) but towards the end of the Cheltenham innings the opposition started to get away and Westbury looked to be faced with a large total of over 250 to chase in the second half of the game. However, after some hard work at the end of the Cheltenham innings, the innings closed on 242-8 with Mike Coles the stand out bowler at then end of the innings for Westbury and Michael Kelly scoring a quick fire 56 for the home side.
The Westbury reply did not get off to the best of the starts. Facing a strong opening attack, Westbury were unlucky to be 2 wickets down early with the score on only 14 with both Benny Whiting and James Hudson back in the pavilion. Brannon Varley played freely and with great confidence and skill to then get the innings moving in the right direction but when he was dismissed and then also two quick wickets of Arran Dickinson and Rich Mills the signs were not looking good for Westbury with the score on 56-5.
What followed did not help the situation with the confident and free scoring Mike Coles being bowled by one of the best delivers of the day and Ian Pinchen quickly followed, reducing Westbury CC to 76-7. This instigated a counter attack from the fearless number 9, Tom Lucas. Batting with gay abandon he decided that attack was the best form of defence in order to stem the tumble of wickets and also to get the score board moving in the right direction.
When he was dismissed for 18 off 15 balls this left Alex Senneck to see if he could guide the tail enders towards a decent score to gain batting points or in fact win the game. Andy Carroll carried on where Lucas left and he was soon scoring freely and the score was soon taken past 125, 150 then 175 and thoughts were then turning towards perhaps the likelihood of a highly unlikely victory.
With the score on 192-8, Senneck succumbed to the return of the opening bowler Liam Walker for 52 which left Carroll and Oakley the task of endeavouring to achieve the victory. Thus, when Carroll was bowled by the impressive Kelly for 30, the game was lost and Westbury were 205 all out.
On Saturday 10th June, Westbury host Biddestone at home.
Man of the match was Michael Coles sponsored by Church Financial Services.
