Thornbury 78-6 v Keynsham 222-8 – match abandoned
THORNBURY will be looking to secure second place in the West of England Premier League Premier Two on Saturday with a crucial away trip to Weston-super-Mare but will thank their lucky stars that the rain ruined their clash with Keynsham last weekend in which they were heading for defeat.
The Thorns are neck-and-neck with third-placed Taunton in the table – both have 251 points – as they head into the final weekend of the league season with everything to play for.
And it is vital that Thornbury get victory in Somerset as they will otherwise hear the cries from a few miles down the M5 of Taunton who are hot favourites to beat bottom-of-the-table Shapwick and Polden at home.
Thornbury earned themselves six points for the abandonment last Saturday  when they could have failed to get anything from a match which was slipping quickly from their grasp.
Keynsham batted first at The Ship Field after home skipper Simon Hinks won the toss and put them in.
And Thornbury’s hopes were given a boost when opener Russ Wakefield was clean bowled by Luke Davis for just eight.
Fellow opener Antony Cains did not last much longer as he was caught by Dan Lezar off Davis for six, having dug in to score one boundary and two more runs off his 29 balls faced.
It put Keynsham on 34-2 number three Josh Tasman-Jones stuck around to thwart the Thornbury attack.
Number four Reg Keates was clean bowled by Marc Lezar for 19, while Keynsham skipper Dan Jarman was caught by Dan Lezar off the bowling of Josh Morris for 14. It put Keynsham on 90-4 – but Tasman-Jones was still there and when number six James Turpin and number seven Jez Hare supported their partner superbly with knocks of 33 and 39 respectively, Thornbury’s task started to increase.
Turpin went when Dan Lezar caught him off Harry Wormwell’s bowling but Keynsham had repaired the early damage.
Tasman-Jones eventually went for 65 when Marc Lezar bent his stumps with a beautiful delivery, but Hare stuck around as the dominant man in mini-partnerships with the tail enders, finishing unbeaten as his side walked to the pavilion on 222-8.
Davis was the best bowler with 3-48 from ten overs, while Marc Lezar took 2-41.
It was a good target to aim at as the clouds threatened overhead. Hinks and Davis piled on 23 before Davis was caught for ten.
From there, however, Thornbury collapsed. Chris Budd was caught for two, while Hinks perished for 19.
Marc Lezar struck a boundary before he was bowled for four, and Neil Stovold was caught for nine, leaving Thornbury at 56-5
That soon became 65-6 as Luke Davis was also caught for four.
Wicketkeeper Dan Lezar hung around for 14 and young Sam Summerfield added two runs to the total before the rain came down, leaving Thornbury on 78-6 and thankful the game had to be called off.