Westbury entertained local rivals Corsham, who were relegated from the Premier One Division last season. They hoped to put behind them the defeats against Burbage and Royal Easton and Thornbury over the last two weeks.
Westbury made three changes from last week’s close defeat against league leaders Thornbury with Ben Whiting, Sayeed Ibrahim and James Dark coming in for the unavailable Michael Coles, Romano Esau and Arron Dickinson.
Corsham won the toss and decided that they would field first.
Westbury began with a new opening partnership of Ben Whiting and Sam Burdock. They made a bad start when Ben Whiting was dismissed leg before by Curtis for 10, with the total at 16. Burdock was then joined by Mills at the wicket. They made a confident start after the dismissal, with Mills being the dominant batsman and when the total reached 46, Corsham struck by having Burdock out leg before off the bowling of the Corsham spinner King for 6. He was replaced by Alex Senneck.
Shortly afterwards, Mills was dismissed for 20 caught by Smith off the bowling of the Corsham captain, Tom Foley. Scott then joined Senneck at the wicket and they took the total to 61, when Scott was out caught by Tom Foley off the bowling of Smith for 6.
This brought in Sayeed Ibrahim, who was playing his first game in the first team after a few years, and they both batted with confidence until the total reached 93, when Ibrahim was caught of the boundary for a confident 12. Senneck was then joined by Gill, who had up until now struggled a bit for runs, but once they got on top, they played some good shots. The 100 came up in the 33rd over in 108 minutes and with both batsmen gaining in confidence, the score rose rapidly and in the 50th over, both batsmen completed their 50s. Senneck’s 50 came up in 108 balls in 113 minutes. Gill’s 50 came up in 54 balls in 58 minutes. They were both unbeaten at the end of the allotted overs, having completed a partnership off 88. Tom Smith had the best figures of 2-27 off his allotted 10 overs.
When Corsham batted, they made a bad start with half the side out for 69 and it was only due to a fine 9th wicket partnership of 32 between Sam Collier and the Corsham captain Tom Foley, that Corsham reached 131 all out in the 43rd over. Sam Collier 49 was the highest score. Richard Mills 3-21 off 10 overs had the best figures, ably supported by Andy Carroll 2-16 off 7 overs and Tom Lucas 2-26.
This was a fine team performance even with a few first team players missing; it bodes well for the rest of the season.
Eastern Paradise. Westbury man of the Match. Alex Senneck.
