Thornbury kept in the hunt for promotion to the top division of the West of England Premier League by beating Burbage & Easton Royal CC by 41 runs at The Ship Field on Saturday.

In recent weeks the club has proved they are not reliant on their new Gloucestershire stars Jack Taylor and Chris Dent, both currently unavailable due to their involvement with their county's T20 Blast campaign, by winning three games on the spin.

On a day when their two closest rivals for promotion, Goatacre and Corsham, both fell to defeat - Thornbury took full advantage to move second in the table and just seven points off top spot.

On Saturday Marc Lezar won the toss and chose to bat, but it was his opening partner and brother Dan that made the biggest impression - batting through most of the innings in making 120.

Regular wickets fell at the other end and Thornbury were struggling a little on 147/5 in the 29th over. But Harry Wormwell, who made a run a ball 47, and Danny Slade, who blasted 35 from just 21 balls, put on an unbroken 51-run stand to give the innings some late momentum.

Set a target of 277, Burbage & Easton Royal made a good start thanks to a partnership of 145 from David Cope and Kelly Smuts.

But when Tom Bradley - who dismissed four of the top five batsmen to finish with 4/33- broke the stand, wickets fell at regular intervals.

Gazette Series: Tom Bradley was in fine form with the ball. Photo: Peter SmithTom Bradley was in fine form with the ball. Photo: Peter Smith

Slade capped a good performance by taking 3/33, including Smuts for 73, as the visitors collapsed from 157/1 to 201/9 and finally 235 all out.

Thornbury took 20 points from the encounter to Burbage & Easton Royal's eight.

Next up for Thornbury is a trip to Hatherley & Reddings on Saturday.