Gloucestershire County League Division Two

Cam 188 ao beat Oldlands 151-9 by 37 runs

CAM continued their lengthy unbeaten run with victory over local rivals Oldlands to take them to the brink of promotion.

Having been asked to bat first, Cam stand-in skipper Jake Dolbear opened the batting alongside Ryan Western.

Both men made steady progress before Western was caught behind off the bowling of Pete Waite for eight.

Jake Dolbear rode his luck and had reached 25 before he was the next man to go as Steve Pennington took a smart catch off the bowling of Dave Brookes.

A decent partnership between Gareth Udal and Ryan Malpass then batted Cam into a strong position as they advanced the score past the hundred mark.

Malpass made 28 before he offered a return catch to Brad Thomas who made no mistake.

Udal, having batted with great patience to begin with was now scoring at a much faster rate and rotating the strike well with Cam’s middle order.

Alex Ballard (12) and Jim Seal (12) made useful contributions but Cam continued to lose regular wickets as their innings faltered. Jake Parrott was run out cheaply as he looked to give Udal as much of the strike as possible before Udal was held on the boundary off the bowling of Pennington for a well-made 70 as he looked to make it a hat trick of sixes.

Kieran Price returned to the attack, after a tight opening spell, and his accurate bowling accounted for three late wickets as he quickly wrapped up the Cam innings as they ended on 188, having used up all but one of their 45 overs.

The returning George Dolling opened the bowling for Cam alongside the ever-dependable Charlie Viney, and it wasn’t long before the early breakthrough was made as a leading edge from Jim Wright provided a simple caught and bowled for Dolling.

Oldlands batsmen Nick Grove and Brad Thomas then went into defensive mode as they looked to keep wickets intact.

The pair found it difficult to get Viney, Dolling and Udal away as the scoring was limited and the run rate increased with every passing over.

Holloway and Pete Hall were brought on in the hope of breaking the frustrating partnership, but neither man could find the illusive wicket. With the required rate now in excess of six-an-over, captain Dolbear turned to Western and the seamer was into his work straight away as he bowled Grove for 43 before dismissing Thomas soon after for 27, as his stubborn resistance came to an end.

A counter-attacking twenty from Price briefly worried the Cam players but Western soon put an end to this as he bowled him, before Brookes exited soon after in similar fashion for one.

Udal returned to the attack and bowled Woolams for 10 before Western, having been unlucky not to collect his fifth wicket in his previous over, clean bowled Dave Walton for 22 as he collected his fifth wicket, all of them bowled, as he finished with career best figures of 5-28.

Dolling returned for the final overs and found immediate success as he had Waite held on the long-on boundary by Udal for six before bowling Bidder for a duck.

The last pair saw out the final two overs, but this didn’t dampen the spirits of the Cam players as they ran out victorious by 37 runs to leave them in a position where promotion, and potentially the title, can be sealed away to Stone this week.