Bristol and District League 11th Division.
Barrow Gurney 2nds 194-9 beat Thornbury 4ths 151-9 by 43 runs.
SATURDAY saw the return of the club chairman Chris Stutter to the cricket field as he dusted down his kit to join the Thornbury fourth XI making the trip to a tranquil Barrow Gurney ground.
Thornbury won the toss and decided to bowl first on a dusty, used track. Matt Bird struck in the second over bowling the Barrow captain round his legs for five.
At the other end, Rob Garner struggled to find a consistent line and length this allowed for the introduction of Under -11 Rhys Price into the attack.
He quickly got into his stride and picked up his first wicket caught by seasoned veteran Chris Stutter who did well to stoop down to pick up the catch off his toes.
With Barrow ticking over nicely Bulley was introduced into the attack and he quickly found his rhythm ending with 2-45 off 10 overs.
From the other end bowling rotation was the order of the day with fellow U11 players Praneel Choughule (1-13) and Alex Foulner (1-34) all taking their turn and bowling with excellent length and direction.
It was left to Price to clean up the tail taking two late wickets in one over to finish with excellent figures of 3-20 off five overs.
Barrow closed out their innings at 194-9 off their allotted 40 overs.
After witnessing the low bounce in the wicket, Thornbury batsman knew they had to get on the front foot.
Ollie Humphries and Andy Harbridge got Thornbury off to a good start with Humphries looking in good nick and he was unfortunate to ‘played on’ for 24.
Young Praneel batted with maturity and was unlucky to hole out for eight.
This brought the club chairman to the wicket.
After informing the umpire that he was playing on ‘instinct’ he promptly smashed a four off the back foot in typical Stutter fashion.
Next, he latched on to a pitched up delivery and almost knocked out the Barrow captain who attempted to stop the ball with his head.
He looked in fine form before he failed to ground his bat to a leg stump yorker that saw him sent back to the hutch for a brisk 11.
Price joined Harbridge to keep the scoreboard ticking over, Harbridge was the next to go for 30 and Tom Rimmer followed quickly for one.
Captain for the day Dave Bird joined Price in the middle as they tried to up the run rate.
Bird started to get into his stride striking a six over extra cover and with the field moving out there were runs a plenty although quick singles were not high on his mind.
Price went for 18 when he toe ended a ball back to the bowler.
The skipper was next to go with just two overs to go for 35 and there the run rate petered out to leave Thornbury at the end of their 40 overs on 151-9.
The stars of the day were undoubtedly the three U-11 players of Price, Praneel and Foulner.