Gloucestershire County League

Charlton Kings 180-9 beat Cam 112-10 by 68 runs

CAM tasted defeat on their return to the Gloucestershire County League Division One as a disappointing batting effort saw them fall to a 68 run defeat away to Charlton Kings.

Having opted to bowl first in the unusually hot early season conditions, Cam’s opening bowlers soon set to work taking apart the Charlton Kings top order.

George Dolling made the first break through as a leading edge from Parker allowed captain Adam Holloway to take a simple catch at mid-off.

Dolling then found some movement to clean bowl Radley for four before Charlie Viney claimed his first wicket as he bowled Trewin for three.

The wickets continued to tumble as a mistimed pull shot allowed Dolling to claim his third wicket with a simple caught and bowled.

Dolling made it four soon after as he bowled Ward for four before Viney had Brignull caught by Adam Holloway to leave Charlton Kings in deep trouble on 23-6 in just the tenth over.

Dolling was unable to claim an elusive five wicket haul as he finished with 4-33 while Viney registered impressive figures of 2-8 from his nine overs in a spell which included six maidens and only four scoring shots from the Charlton Kings batsmen.

Cam would have had high hopes of limiting their opponents to a very gettable total, however Wilkinson (65) and Mitchell (57) had other ideas and batted their side back in to the game with a partnership of 137 from the best part of 32 overs.

Cam’s bowlers stuck to their task but Ryan Western, Ben Holloway, Tom Hancock and Alex Ballard found luck not on their side as both batsmen passed fifty.

Ryan Western returned from his earlier spell to dismiss both of the set batsmen with consecutive deliveries.

Western claimed a third wicket off the penultimate ball thanks to a catch from Ballard but the home side had reached a competitive score of 180-9, a total that had looked a long way off a couple of hours earlier.

Cam’s chase started positively with Jake Dolbear and Ryan Western both finding the boundary before Western (5) was caught looking to find the ropes again.

Holloway brothers Ben and Adam both fell for single figure scores before Dolbear and Ballard combined for the away side’s only partnership of note as they advanced the score to 79-3 before Dolbear was caught off the bowling of Trewin for 41.

Jim Seal fell cheaply two overs later and when Ballard departed for 35, with Cam still requiring 82 for victory, their hopes of chasing the total down looked slim.

Cam’s lower order could not salvage the situation with wickets continuing to fall regularly. Reed and Tucker both collected three wickets as Cam subsided to a disappointing 112 all out.

The defeat will feel like one that got away for Cam, who will be hoping to put things right when they host Painswick on Saturday.