Gloucestershire County League Division Two

Hatherley and Reddings seconds v Thornbury seconds.

THORNBURY second team travelled up the M5 to second-placed Hatherley and Reddings.

Stand-in skipper James Tunnicliffe knew there was a chance to increase his captaincy record to three games and three wins and more importantly have a winning start to the second half of the season.

On arrival the sun was shining and the lads were pleasantly surprised at the pitch and ground we would be playing on, very similar to TCC and not the same wet, run down pitches we are used to in this league, immediately everyone knew it was a bat first day. Tunnicliffe went out for the toss and Hatherley’s captain took great pleasure announcing Thornbury would be fielding first, much to everyone’s disappointment!

The team took to the field knowing early wickets were key to keeping Hatherley under a score of 250.

The bowling on the other had did start well with usual 1st team player Josh Morris taking advantage of the quick wicket he set about pushing the openers back with some sharp short bowling, whoever the damage was being done at the other end with Sam Williams bowling a tight line while managing to swing the new ball round corners, something which it didn’t look like the Hatherley players were used to facing as both their openers were dismissed in no time both thanks to big in swingers from Williams, one taking the top edge of Carter’s bat and looping up to Harry Wormwell at gully.

Hamilton was bowled through the gate.

This was the perfect start on a pitch which looked like anything close to 280 would still be chase able. Bustin and Day arrived at the crease and after each hitting 4s Bustin turned around to the slip cordon and being deadly serious announced that this partnership would be the difference between Hatherley scoring 450 or 50 all out.

Six balls later and both Bustin and Day were sat back in the pavilion watching the rest of their team try to score 450.

At 26-4 Thornbury knew that one more wicket would bring in the tail and a possibility to bowl Hatherley out for under 120 and secure two bonus points.

The plan was set to new man, Care, with a field set for Morris to bowl short and have Care caught on the leg side, the only mistake Tunnicliffe made was putting Mark Allen at square leg for the catch, the ball looped up to Allen who for some reason decided to throw his cap on the ground then run around in a circle twice before falling over as the ball dropped about four inches from where he had initially been fielding.

Luckily for Allen and Thornbury, Williams was on target to bowl Care and pick up his fourth wicket of the afternoon leaving the hosts in a lot of trouble at 50-5 before Perks and Mahmud came to the crease and started to steady the ship.

Thornbury threw everything at them with Morris hitting Perks in the grill but with the ball not swinging as much for Williams, Tunnicliffe bought himself and Wookey into the attack, Wookey started well but dropped the odd ball short which perks took advantage of cutting and pulling some boundaries, Tunnicliffe held up one end bowling his 9 overs straight through while although not picking up a wicket he managed to keep the scoring rate down. Hatherley made a fantastic recovery from 50-5 to 145-5 before Mahmud pulled an Alex Allen full toss to Josh Morris on the boundary, Perks continued as he had all innings by picking off the single and hitting the bad ball to the boundary which eventually took Hatherley to 206-5 ending 80 not out with Thornbury feeling as though they had scored 100 more runs than they should have.

After tea Thornbury openers Josh Riggs and Harry Wormwell were sent out with one specific job…take the shine off the new ball, Riggs decided this was a good plan and looked solid in defence however Wormwell obviously wasn’t a fan of this plan and chipped a ball from Mahmud to midwicket in the second over for 1. This bought Tunnicliffe to the crease knowing a captains knock was required to steady the ship and ensure no more early wickets were lost, Tunnicliffe started well with 3 fours in his first two overs including a sumptuous on drive fizzing back past the bowler from his second delivery. Riggs at the other end was also dispatching every bad ball for 4 causing Hatherley to take their opening bowlers off after just 4 and 5 overs respectively. Then came a barrage of spin, Riggs was the aggressor hitting almost every ball that was full enough for 4 and Tunnicliffe playing a different role to usual being very watchful and picking off the singles and occasional bad delivery…a true captains role. Riggs bought up his 3rd fifty in 3 innings with another 4, before much to the dismay of Tunnicliffe and his dad Jason, who was umpiring at the time decided to run past a ball from Niblett which didn’t turn and was stumped for a well-made 56 and a great 92 partnership with Tunnicliffe after the early loss of Wormwell. Andy Weeks came to the crease looking to continue his good form with the bat, however on his fifth delivery he hit on straight to short cover and started running like a mad man, Tunnicliffe in no mood to be run out stood his ground and watched Weeks try to scamper back but was far too late and was run out by about 3 foot! At 96-3 with Hatherley sniffing a Thornbury collapse Dishant Dedhia came to the crease on his last game for Thornbury before heading off back to Mumbai, Hatherley immediately tried to get on top and bought bon their 3rd seamer, Heap, who managed a good bouncer first up hitting Dishant on his glove, the Hatherley players starting chirping they were into the tail already until from the very next ball Dishant dispatched Heap with a great cover drive shutting them up again. Dishant and Tunnicliffe again were very watchful while still hitting the bad deliveries for 4, with the spinners being ineffective Hatherley turned back to their opening bowler Day to speed things up with the ball, Another straight drive from Tunnicliffe brought up his 50 but the extra pace did for Tunnicliffe while going for his first big shot after 30 overs of batting was caught at 1st slip for 57 which brought an end to another solid partnership of 63 and thinking this had left Thornbury in a winning position of 159 -4 requiring 67 from the remaining 15 overs with 6 wickets in hand the finishing job was left to Dishant and Mark Allen (who was the self-proclaimed vice-captain for the day) the pair batted well without giving any chances and wrapped the game up in the 40th over. Dishant finishing 46 not out and Allen 24 not out with Allen selfishly hitting the last 3 balls for 4 and not giving Dishant a chance at his maiden Adult 50 for the club!

Overall a great performance from the boys beating 2nd in the table with just a few things to work on in the bowling department a great winning start to the second half of the season!!