Gloucestershire County League second division

Poulton 246-6 lost to Cam 247-5 by five wickets

CAM crowned their stellar season with a brilliant Jake Dolbear-inspired run chase to overcome fellow promoted side Poulton by five wickets.

And now Gloucestershire County League second division champions Cam can begin building over the winter towards a return to the top flight next summer Cam captain Adam Holloway opted to field first at Poulton on what was a scorching day.

And it wasn’t long before the opening bowlers of George Dolling and Charlie Viney were into their work.

The first wicket fell in the fifth over as Ed Paddock held on to a good low catch at mid-wicket off the bowling of Dolling to dismiss Meredith for eight.

Dolling followed this up in his next over as Denning returned a simple caught and bowled chance as Cam made early inroads.

Dolling picked up his third wicket in his next over as a good length ball saw Lawrence bowled for 11.

With wickets falling, Viney was giving nothing away at the other end as his nine-over spell went for just 15 runs.

Pete Hall was brought into the attack and soon found some success as he had Cutts caught off a top edge by wicketkeeper Dolbear.

Poulton were languishing at 65-4 at the halfway stage and things got immediately worse for the home side after drinks as Burton holed out to Adam Philp on the boundary as he took a terrific catch to give Hall his second wicket.

With Cam firmly on top, Poulton found a way back into the game with Newman (50), Maunder (104 not out) and James (21 not out) regularly finding the boundary as they put their side in a strong position.

Ryan Western and Alex Ballard toiled away without reward as missed chances came back to haunt Cam in the latter stages.

First team debutant Zak Fernandes, picked up a deserved wicket as he clean bowled Newman, but the home side were by now in a dominant position and reached 246-6 from their 45 overs.

Cam knew it would take something special to achieve victory and Dolbear showed great composure and determination as he set about chasing the total.

Western departed early for six and, despite some aggressive strokes, Hall could only reach 17 before he was caught to give Dunn his second wicket.

By the time Holloway was dismissed for eight, Cam were in a spot of trouble at 67-3.

Cam were not disheartened, however, as a 113-run partnership between Dolbear and Ballard succeeded in taking Cam to within reach of their target.

The pair worked well in tandem as good running and sporadic boundaries kept them close to the required run rate.

Ballard departed for 38 but Dolbear remained in control and found ample support in Paddock who hit a quick-fire 23 before he was run out with Cam 22 short of victory.

Having reached a magnificent century from 123 balls, Dolbear knew it was down to him to guide his side to victory, and he duly did so as he crashed three consecutive boundaries from the penultimate over before a quick single saw his side to their target with eight balls to spare.

Dolbear eventually finished the day unbeaten on 124 from 135 balls.