West of England League Prem Two Glos/Wilts Division

Gloucester City Winget 263-9 beat Rockhampton 207 ao by 56 runs.

THE DAY couldn’t have started much better for Rockhampton in their West of England Premier League Prem Two Glos/Wilts clash at Gloucester City Winget on Saturday afternoon.

Will Cartlidge dismissed GCW’s overseas player Sizwe Masondo with the very first ball of the match on his way to recording excellent figures of 3-24 during the innings.

But unfortunately, other than Chris Willoughby (0-33), Cartlidge was not supported by the rest of the attack who all went at over five an over as GCW were somehow able to post 263-9 despite being 172-7 at one point.

The innings turned when their skipper, Scott Montgomery came in and smashed 41 off just 11 balls, hitting eight of those balls for either four or six.

From then on, Rockhampton struggled to regain control of the innings and despite taking wickets at regular intervals, they were never able to kill Gloucester City Winget off and what should have been 180-200 was now a very tricky looking target of 264.

In response, Jamie Wakefield and James Dryden were both dismissed on nine each early on and despite partnerships and decent contributions from Matt Tyler (43), Rowan Cartlidge (24) and Will Tyler (35), the visitors were never really in the game as the requited rate continued to rise and wickets continued to fall with Rockhampton finishing on a disappointing 207 all out.

With three games to go, Rockhampton’s title hopes are now very slim but with league leaders Lechlade to play on the last day, it could still be possible.

Rockhampton are seven points behind second-placed Chippenham in the table and 24 in arrears to Lechlade.

This Saturday, they host Burbage and Easton Royal at The Boundary Field, with a 12.30pm start.

Meanwhile. Rockhampton’s second XI were at home to bottom side Lechlade in the Gloucestershire County League second division and went down to a surprising defeat.

The Rams won the toss and decided to bat. Opener Jeremy White laid a solid platform with a half-century, while the vast majority of the team got into double figures, with Mark Beale contributing 36 and Harry Collins knocked out 22 runs.

Rockhampton finished their innings on 225-9 but after some early successes in the Lechlade second team reply, they could not stop number four Ben Trass who thrashed an unbeaten 103 to steer his side 226-5 and a five wicket victory.