Eat your hearts out, England, India etc. The future of cricket is here and in their first hard-ball match, Stroud and Hardwicke showed passion and skill to entertain the, at times, boisterous supporters.
In front of their shiny new pavilion, Stroud opened the batting showing great confidence, with Hamish Norman claiming a boundary and Tom Wigley top-scoring with 10 from their four-over pairing which set the tone for the innings. Joe Coldrick popped up with a brisk 5 and Josh Llewellyn also hit the boundary in his 7 runs.
Some energetic fielding and tight early bowling from Stroud set up a close finish. Ben Pearson bowled well and Rory Sutton showed great promise. Harry Burns looked keen in the field and Krishan Sharma came close in his two overs. Llewellyn and Coldrick claimed wickets, but Hardwicke eventually ran out victors.
Stroud showed tremendous pride and promise. Look out for more exploits
in the coming weeks.
A close game played in a very good spirit, Cam batted first and were met with some very tight bowling from the Frocester team J.Beeson, E.Thompson and H.Gwilliam all batted well for the Cam team, but Josh Pritchard, Bailey Kimber and Ben Spyvee all took wickets at crucial times to reduce the Cam scoring rate. Mention must be made of Louis Kimber and Callum Stevenson who both playing thier first game at this level bowled very impressively. When Frocester batted they lost wickets at regular intervals T.Grieg, J.Beeson, A.Gordon-Eales and S.Winterbottom all bowling well and coming to the last pair Frocester still needed to score seventeen runs however the combination of Jack Pinker and Louis Kimber batted with calm and assurance and Frocester scraped home by seven runs.
Minchinhampton v Cam A
Cam's youngsters gained their third consecutive league victory with a strong all-round performance at Minchinhampton. Ed Paddock (12) and Harry Willcox (14) set up the visitor's win with a dominant opening partnership of 36. No other Cam bat reached double figures but Fin McCubbin (on debut ) and Henry Pritchard contributed boundaries and Ed Carey and Jake Dolbear accumulated singles so that a challenging 268 was set.
Three Cam bowlers then excelled, taking crucial wickets so that Minchinhampton's reply never gained momentum .Ed Carey ( 3 for 7 ) made a good decision to bowl spin and bowled both opening bats with his first two balls. Jake Dolbear ( 2 for 6 ) swung the ball at speed and, then, bowling at the death, Toby Read ( 4 for 4 ) impressed everyone with his bail smashing seamers. Ellery Thompson ( 1 for 6 ) and Fin McCubbin ( 1 for 19 ) contributed well before Adam Ford and Harry Gwilliam troubled the batsmen with some promising slower deliveries. In his first full game as wicketkeeper, Ed Paddock looked comfortable and effective. Hurt (12 ) and Woodrow ( 9 ) made a brave effort to turn the tide for the home side, but with the Cam bowlers taking 11 wickets, Minch finished on 200, well short of their target, and Cam's juniors look forward to their visit from Stroud next week
Stroud B v
Frocester C
Both managers feared for the match as a 5 minute shower threatened to thwart the action before the start. They need not have worried and the youngsters soon put on a show. Stroud elected to field first, Rory Sutton and Hamish Norman opening the bowling in economical fashion. The contrasting styles caused Frocester problems, with Norman producing figures of 0 runs for 1 wicket from his 2 overs and Sutton giving away only 3 runs. Spurred on by the fine start, Ben Pearson also bowled well, giving away only 4 runs. William Duggleby and Fraser Dahdouh performed well in the field. Frocester hit back at the end of their innings with P Griffiths scoring a superb 18 from his 4 over pairing. Stroud newcomer, Nathan Fagg, bowled tightly and closed the innings by making a mess of the stumps. Chasing a useful total, Stroud’s opening pair, Norman and Pearson faced fast and tricky bowling from Frocester. They set the tone for the innings, playing solidly and looked for singles before hitting some nice shots after weathering the storm. Sutton then scored a solid 10 runs, his confidence showing towards the end as he hit through the ball. Harry Burns master-classed running between the wickets. Findlay bowled strongly for Frocester and, although taking no wickets, gave away a mere 7 runs in his 3 overs. A fine effort. Fagg and George Willey batted last, the former shining with an excellent 14 including several well-timed boundaries. This was a tremendous victory in only their second match. Indeed, everyone should be congratulated on a fine effort and also for their obvious enjoyment of the game. Both sides were a credit to the League.
Cirencester v Minchinhampton (League A)
In the most entertaining match of the season to date the game went to the last ball of the allotted overs with Cirencester requiring two runs of the last ball to win.Cirencester achieved the two runs in a very dramatic moment when on the second run the batsman could have been run out or made his ground.For Cirencester he fortunately made his ground. Minchinhampton batted first and scored 242 runs of their 16 overs for the loss of five wickets R Hurt scoring 18, Cirencester’s Jono Jameson Black took three wickets including two in successive balls but was unable to complete his hat trick.A total of five runs were scored off his three overs. Cirencester scored 243 runs of their 16 overs for loss of six wickets Jono Jameson Black scoring 17 runs, Seb Ellis scoring 13 runs Woodrow took 3 wickets for 10 runs of three over. Both sides played some excellent cricket and are to be congratulated on a very entertaining game
Cam A v Stroud A
Cam entertained current champions Stroud at Everlands keen to extend
their run of three wins. Asked to bat, Cam's opening pair Ed Paddock (19) and Harry Willcox (17)
relished their opportunity to set a target, hitting out strongly to score
45 in their four overs. Second pair Henry Pritchard and Fin McCubbin
then added a stylish 20 and third pair Toby Read and Henry Patteson a
further 12. Knowiing that a strong 272 was already on the scoreboard,
fourth pair, Ed Carey (29) and Jake Dolbear (15) enjoyed adding a further
44 including eight boundaries. McCradden ( 1 for 19 )and Wigley (1 for
17 ) were the wicket taking Stroud bowlers.
In reply, The Stroud batsmen concentrated well to keep some excellent,
straight Cam bowling out.Wigly ( 9 ) and Cam guest Ash ( 8 ) topscored
as energetic Cam fielding restricted the visitors to 254 and victory
by 62 runs. Pritchard ( 1for 2 ) and McCubbin ( 1for 4 ) bowled very
effectively for Cam while Patteson, Ash and French can all be congratulated
on their promising debuts.
Hardwicke B v Cam C
Hardwick's youngsters set Cam a challenging target of 241 with a particularly strong contribution of 18 from Ed Martin. Cam's first pair of Tom Kinnear
(12) and Ellery Thompson took their reply to 230 and Jacob Beeson (17)
and Sean Slater extended it to a winning 251. Sam Carey with James Mills
followed by Jared Sharp with Mike Johnson had to resist some very effective
bowling from Adam Hopkins (3 for 12) and Alex Babbage (2 for 3). They
just managed it with a final Cam score of 250 and a pleasing victory
by just 9 runs