West of England Premier League
Premier Two
Thornbury 207-4 beat Shapwick and Polden 206 all out by six wickets
THORNBURY firsts hosted a Shapwick and Polden side that were starting to pick up some form going into this match at The Ship Field.
They won the toss and elected to bat first, meaning Thornbury found themselves fielding again for the sixth successive time.
The visitors got off to a nervy start with opener Ben Ackland falling to a Sam Summerfield catch from the bowling of  Marc Lezar for a seven-ball duck, before they piled on an impressive 92 for the second wicket.
However that partnership came to a close as opener Steven Tinnion was lbw for 71 and number three Tom Lace was bowled, both dismissed by part-time spinner Danny Slade, whose rapid change of pace proved too deceiving.
After that, the Shapwick and Polden middle-order batsmen struggled to make anything more than starts. Slade claimed another victim when Steven Spencer was stumped by Dan Lezar.
Richard Trotman took a couple of wickets and there was also  one for Sayeem Waliullah. Unsurprisingly, Harry Wormwell was on-hand to finish the tail off and pick up the last three wickets, meaning Shapwick and Polden were restricted to 206 all out from 45.5 overs.
The Thornbury innings got off to a very positive start.
Neil Willis-Stovold and Dan Davis were in fine form, putting on 65 for the first wicket, before Willis-Stovold was out in the same fashion as last week when bowler Michael Higgs parried a Davis block onto the stumps, with Willis-Stovold outside his crease and  he was run out.
It was an innings which could have been a lot more as the opener was out for 37 from 35 balls.
Davis and Summerfield, in at number three and fresh from his maiden century for the team last week, proceeded to take the fight to the Shapwick and Polden bowlers before Davis skied a bad ball in the air, meaning he had to go following a quick-fire 58 from 48 deliveries.
Trotman made 16 runs, all of which came from one over, before he was caught by Sam Spencer off the bowling of  Ben Rudge.
Dan Lezar came and went for ten runs, allowing his older brother, Marc, to come in and see the game home with Summerfield. The pair notched up a 50 partnership as Thornbury finished on 207-4.
But there was one last twist in the tail as the match finished in a weird fashion. Summerfield was hoping to get a half-century but was denied it and finished on 46 not out when Shapwick and Polden threw four overthrows.
Marc Lezar finished on 24 not out as Thornbury won by 6 wickets.