THORNBURY’S first XI entertained Burbage and Easton Royal on the opening day of the league season, looking to start off the new campaign with a big win.

There were first-team debuts for Jack Gillett and Josh Slade, who looked to make a big impact.

The day got off to a good start for the home side with Richard Trotman winning the toss and electing to field.

However, the innings didn’t initially go the way the home side had hoped.

Burbage’s captain David Cope got his side off to a flyer, smashing 26 off just 21 balls before falling lbw to Luke Davis early on.

However, opening partner Jonathan Chandler stayed around quite a bit longer, laying the platform for the innings with a measured 66 before being run out by Danny Slade while at the non-striker’s end.

That, along with a very handy contribution of 73 from overseas batsman Bevan Small, helped Burbage edge towards a competitive total.

A few quick-fire innings from the Burbage middle-order batsmen allowed them to finish on a very respectable 249-6.

There were two wickets each for Luke Davis and Danny Slade, while Slade himself managed a run-out.

There was also one wicket for Tom Bradley, who managed have Small caught on the boundary – the key wicket of the innings.

At the tea interval there was rain, meaning the start of the second innings was delayed and the match lost 10 overs.

As a result of this, the new revised total was a surprisingly high 228 from 40 overs.

Nick Willis-Stovold opened up with Kyp Bridgen, however the former did not hang around for too long, being bowled for a three-ball duck.

The innings recovered, though, with Colin Blick coming in and building a strong partnership with Bridgen.

However, after making 18, Blick was caught behind off the bowling of James Lavis.

That brought Luke Davis to the crease and he was able to form a strong partnership with Bridgen that saw Thornbury in a strong position at drinks.

However, the required run-rate started to creep up, which led to the dismissal of many batsmen as they were forced to try to manufacture runs.

Bridgen was run out for 43 while aiming to rotate the strike and Trotman came and went for just one run, bringing in Slade.

He, along with Luke Davis, managed a quick-fire 50 partnership before they both fell in quick succession.

Davis first went for 55, just before Slade was caught for 30 off 30 balls.

Chasing the very high run-rate, the incoming batsmen were forced to play an attacking brand of cricket.

This worked for Sam Summerfield, who made 31 off 18 balls, however no-one else could replicate that.

This meant that Thornbury finished on 200-9, therefore losing by 28 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method of scoring.

It was not the start of the season that Thornbury were hoping for, but they will have to go again this weekend when they travel away to Lechlade.