Gloucestershire County League Division Two Oldlands (181 all out) lost to Cinderford (203 for 5) by 22 runs.

OLDLANDS lost to table topping Cinderford at home on Saturday despite a spirited team effort, and Brad Thomas almost seeing his side to a memorable victory.

Winning the toss and batting first, the visitors made steady progress against some tight Oldlands bowling, particularly from Dave Walton, Pete Waite and Thomas.

Opening up later on, though, half centuries from skipper Eddie Ruck and Nigel Cartwright saw Cinderford through to what was considered to be a just a ‘par’ score on the day.

In reply, however, only the batting of Thomas (77 not out) showed any indications of intended permanency at the crease.

Although they were up with the run rate, a regular fall of wickets, once again, saw Oldlands crash.

A number of injudicious shot selections were to blame and meant that a relatively achievable run chase ultimately ended in disappointing failure for Oldlands.

Next for Oldlands is another tough encounter with second placed local rivals Cam, again at Abwell, on Saturday.