Bristol and District Association 14th Division

Bristol Civil Service seconds 192-7 lost to Thornbury fourths 193-3 by seven wickets

WHILST on paper, Thornbury fourths victory over Bristol Civil Service seconds by seven wickets in the Bristol and District Association 14th Division looks like a batting victory, the foundations were laid in the BCC innings.

With continuous tight bowling, Thornbury held Civil to 193-7 off their 40 overs despite an excellent 111 from captain Jeff Griffin, who almost carried his bat.

The key lesson was that, although a few catches were dropped, fielders young and old threw themselves around to assist the bowlers with the constant pressure.

One such moment was Jon Cannings throwing his body in front of a certain four and Rhys chasing down balls to save runs on the very long boundary.

Equally important were the dot balls near the end and without these we could have faced 230 or more which would have put much more pressure on the batting. Sunil Reddy ended with two wickets but much credit to Josh Rimmer and Louie Bowden for bowling so well in the important middle period where BCC were well contained.

Still at nearly five an over, Thorns had to bat well. A brisk start from first Sunil Reddy and then Tom Rimmer set the tone and, when they fell, young Ahmed Syed and skipper Andy Moffat kept up well with the rate through twenty overs and then in what became a partnership of 151 accelerated with many well run twos and some strong hitting to alway keep the total in clear view.

Moffat finally fell for 76 and Chris Stutter calmly assisted Ahmed in securing the victory after 38 overs.