SOME excellent preparation from the Goatacre groundsman ensure that Thornbury’s trip to the perimeter of RAF Lyneham was not wasted on Saturday as the rain came down on their West of England Premier League Premier Two clash.
But unfortunately for Thornbury, it ended in defeat as they went down by three wickets.
The groundsman had anticipated the problems with the pitch and fitted side sheets to the rain covers so the wicket was bone dry despite the rain still coming down when Thornbury arrived.
There was going to be a delayed start but teams only lost two overs each, so it turned out to be a 48 over match.
Due to the conditions the toss was vital to win, and unfortunately Thornbury lost it and were asked to bat first.
With a change to the openers, Neil Willis-Stovold and Danny Slade took the task of getting Thornbury off to a good start, however the top order batsmen collapsed and Thornbury found themselves on 20-2, with Stovold and young Sam Summerfield back in the pavilion.
This then gave the Lezar brothers licence to build an innings and get some runs on the board.
Both Marc and Dan Lezar hit the ball very hard and boundaries started to flow on the Goatacre small ground.
Dan was given out lbw on 52 and Marc gave a great supporting role to his brother with 27 before he was bowled out.
With the only other mentionable batsman being Chris Budd who played some delightful shots, two of them being magnificent sixes, in his innings of 39, Thornbury finished on 204 all out with five overs to spare.
Captain Richard Trotman told the side in the changing rooms that they were short on runs but believed that with tight bowling and the excellent fielding they might have a chance, Thornbury’s fielders were very vocal during Goatacre’s reply.
When Goatacre’ s main run machine Jack Haines was caught in the first over by Slade off Josh Morris’s bowling, the volume escalated.
Goatacre lost more wickets, and at one stage were 25-3. But Thornbury could not take advantage and Goatacre started to build an innings even though maximum pressure was being applied from the fielders.
Runs started to come as Goatacre’s Ed Kilbee hit 70 and Jonathan Wilkins smashed 60 runs. But soon 175-5 then 179-6 and a run out by Summerfield put Goatacre on 187-7 in the 31st over.
The tail then hitting singles and crept over the line with 205 runs for the loss of seven wickets.