West of England Premier League Prem 2 Glos/Wilts

Gloucester City Winget v Thornbury

THORNBURY first team travelled to Gloucester City Winget on Saturday looking to put on a stellar performance against their opponents, after last week’s disappointing display against Goatacre which ultimately ended in defeat.

The rain meant the toss was delayed by half an hour, but it eventually took place and captain Luke Davis won the toss and elected to field.

It was clear from the offset that batting conditions were far from easy, and with the skill of the Thornbury bowlers combined with favourable conditions, the home batsmen couldn’t cope.

The first wicket fell in the third over, with Luke Davis trapping Carter lbw for one.

Two overs later and Davis had a second, with Lambert chipping the ball into the grateful hands of James Tunnicliffe at mid-off.

A few overs later and the pressure that Tom Bradley was building at the other end paid off, with him finding the edge of Harrington and Sam Summerfield did the rest behind the stumps.

Bradley only had to wait until his next over to pick up another, but he has Danny Slade to thank.

Slade took a stunning one-handed catch at short mid-wicket to see the back of home captain, Tom Collinson.

After lofting a hefty six over Luke Davis’ head, the following ball Picton edged to Vishal Mamgai at second slip, restricting the home side to 21-5 after 13 overs.

Dan Davis and Danny Slade then came onto bowl and they finished off the job.

Davis took three wickets and Slade took two, with Mamgai and Tunnicliffe claiming their second catches and Colin Blick catching one in the deep.

The home side were bowled out for seventy in 26.3 overs after the visitors put on a fine display in the field, with the likes of Jack Gillett applying the pressure well.

Thornbury went into bat knowing that knocking off a sub-par score of seventy should be easy, but a combination of the conditions and the poor form of Thornbury batsmen meant that this was far from a certainty.

Finding themselves at 19-4 after nine overs would suggest this too.

Marcus Wormwell went first ball, trapped lbw by the impressive Nel. Coming in at three, Tunnicliffe could only manage one before he was caught.

Both Dan (5) and Luke Davis (8) fell within a few overs of each other, with both batsmen caught by home fielders, leaving the Thorns reeling.

Thoughts of getting good batting points went out the window, with the focus fully on winning the game.

However, any hopes Gloucester City Winget had of picking up a shock win were shattered by Josh Slade and Vishal Mamgai.

The pair put on a mature display, manipulating the fielders at will, as they guided Thornbury to an important six-wicket win.

They finished with an unbeaten stand of 54, with the aggressive Slade finishing on 38 not out off 31 balls, with the more conservative Mamgai unbeaten on 16 not out off 22 balls.

Thornbury are now fifth in the league, and will face one of the toughest tests of the season when they host league-leaders Cheltenham on Saturday at The Ship.