THORNBURY travelled to Chard CC after the massive win against Taunton last weekend with confidence high.
To get in the title race, maximum points were needed and Thornbury delivered.
Chard batted first and suffered early exits as they lost both opening batsmen with only a run on the board.
Then, they lost another when Reid Mawdsley was an lbw victim of Luke Davis and Chard were struggling on 19-3.
But the middle and lower order made a remarkable recovery as captain Jon Scott struck 25 before he was caught and then Scott Wells-Burr hit 71 and Jon Dalwood struck 51 to give Chard a fighting chance of winning with a respectable total of 234-7.
The wickets were shared around the Thornbury bowlers with Davis (2-33), Greg Malitte (2-58) and Danny Slade (2-50) all taking two wickets apiece.
Thornbury’s reply saw them achieve the required runs with outstanding batting performances from Dan Davies (93) and Marc Lezar with 61.
Davis hit eight boundaries and five sixes in his 91-ball innings and just fell short of a century when he was caught off the bowling of Mawdsley.
Special mention should be made to Carl Botha, who dropped himself from the Fourths to score for the first team as Thorns’ normal scorer was on holiday.
Next Saturday sees the return leg of the Potterne match. Potterne are top of the league, so there is likely to be a large crowd in attendance.
Meanwhile, Thornbury captain Richard Trotman has been selected as skipper for a local Gloucestershire Select XI who will be playing a Hamish Marshall XI at the Cheltenham Festival on Sunday.
And Trotman is not the only player from Thornbury to be chosen as the form of young Sam Summerfield, who has been playing tremendously for the side this summer, has been recognised with his selection.
However, Summerfield will not be playing for the Select XI but will have the honour of sharing the same dressing room as the County Ground stars, getting invaluable advice from people like Marshall and soon-to-be-retiring Ashes hero Geraint Jones as part of the Hamish Marshall benefit side.
He will also be mixing with some of the other big names who have come of age this year for the county, such as Iain Cockbain and Jack Taylor.
Rockhampton’s Will Tyler, who has also be in outstanding form for the Rams this year as they head their league, has been picked as well for the Select XI. The match starts at 2pm at the College Ground.
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