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Gloucestershire’s under-14s bounce back with win

All Areas > Sport > Cricket

Author: Contributed, Posted: Wednesday, 5th July 2017, 14:00, Tags: Junior Sport

Bourton Vale’s Max Shepherd in action for Gloucestershire under-14s Bourton Vale’s Max Shepherd in action for Gloucestershire under-14s

Gloucestershire Under 14 Boys v Dorset Under 14 Boys (at Bryanston School, Blandford Forum)
ECB Under 14 County Cup – Group 3
Gloucestershire 240-4 (50 overs)
Dorset 82 all out (28.4 overs)
Gloucestershire won by 158 runs

Gloucestershire Under-14s returned to form with an emphatic 158-run win over Dorset.

Three players made half-centuries as Gloucestershire posted 240-4 from their 50 overs before bowling their opponents out for just 82.

Coming into the game on the back of three consecutive defeats, the visitors lost the toss and were put into bat.

They got off to a watchful start through Michael Burger (Parkend) and Owen Lingard (Winterbourne) who were restricted to 12 runs from the first 10 overs.

But having played themselves in, they picked up the pace, taking nine runs off the 11th over and pushing the score on to 52-0 in the 15 over.

Burger, in particular, began to tuck into anything loose from the Dorset bowlers, although boundaries still proved hard to come by on a slow outfield.

Lingard stepped up his running between the wickets and the pair reached 90 before he was trapped LBW by Kyle Hopkins in the 25th over for 24.

Having reached a deserved half-century, Burger followed 10 runs later, bowled by Hopkins for 55. And Hopkins had his third victim in his next over as the Gloucestershire innings experienced a wobble at 106-3.

But this brought wicketkeeper/batsman Max Trotman (Winterbourne) in to join Kunal Barman (Old Bristolians Westbury) together at the crease. After a patient start the pair began to go through the gears, mixing powerful strokeplay and urgency between the wickets.

The dominant pair put on 130 for the fourth wicket, batting in complementary styles. Barman stroked the ball into gaps and struck just three fours in his 56 while the more aggressive Trotman made 64 not out off just 59 balls with seven boundaries.

Barman was finally out in the last over caught behind down the leg side off Henry Hayes for a well-made 56 as Gloucestershire finished on an impressive 240-4, a score which was worth 30 runs more on a quicker outfield.

In reply Gloucestershire got off to a great start as new ball pair Hamdi Saleem (Downend) and Oliver Wood (Cirencester) both struck with the first balls of their second overs, clean bowling openers William Maltby (5) and Joe Gartell (0) respectively.

Both bowlers picked up a second wicket each in their third overs to leave Dorset reeling on 13-4. Saleem bowled with pace and accuracy in an opening burst of 2-12 from six overs and he was well-supported by Wood (2-16).

The home side fought back with a fifth wicket partnership of 31 between Hugo Hartley and Ralph Lloyd.

Hartley looked to counter-attack the Gloucestershire bowlers while Lloyd faced 37 balls for his three runs before being bamboozled by a Sam Swingwood (Monmouth) leg break in the 19th over. He picked up his second wicket by clean bowling Hopkins in the same over to make it 50-6.

At the other end left-arm spinner Max Shepherd (Bourton Vale) got in on the act, taking the seventh wicket three overs later as Gloucestershire tightened their grip on the game.

Hartley (48) and Ben Standfield (3 off 22 balls) offered some late resistance before both fell caught and bowled Shepherd in consecutive balls.

First Shepherd (3-21) accounted for Hartley with a superb diving catch after making ground towards mid-on to claim a leading edge.

He then dismissed Standfield with a sharp return catch before missing out on a hat-trick by a matter of centimetres.

Swingwood (3-31) finished the job in the following over to secure an impressive victory which will give Gloucestershire confidence going into the Taunton Festival in a fortnight’s time.

Gloucestershire Under 17 Boys v Middlesex Under 17 Boys (at Merchant Taylors School CC)
ECB Royal London Under 17 One Day Cup Semi Final
Middlesex 265-6 (50 overs)
Gloucestershire 200 all out (43.4 overs)
Middlesex won by 65 runs

Gloucestershire Under-17s fell short in their quest for a one-day title after suffering a 65-run defeat to Middlesex in the semi-finals of the ECB Royal London Cup.

Despite some glimmers of hope from Brislington’s Milo Ayres (43) and Harry Hankins (40) (Bath) the visitors were bowled out for 200 in pursuit of the 266 needed for victory.

Middlesex won the toss and chose to bat on a good pitch. They got off to a good start reaching 35 before Hankins struck, removing Sahil Shukla (10) courtesy of a catch by Harry Senior.

But this brought Jack Davies in to join Savin Perera and together they put on 97 for the second wicket and looked in total control.

However, the introduction of Lechlade’s Harvey Jupp yielded the breakthrough Gloucestershire were looking for as he took the wicket of Davies LBW for 40.

This brought about a mini collapse as Ollie Price (2-50) removed opposing skipper Rahul Wijeratne for a duck and Jupp picked up his second victim to make it 136-4.

Joe Cracknell came in at six and quickly added 23 for the sixth wicket with Perera before the opener fell LBW to price for 79.

This did nothing to slow Cracknell down as he struck a powerful 71 off just 60 balls to put Middlesex back in charge before being finally bowled by Jupp (3-48). Skipper Tom Price and Dom Hooper (Claverham) then bowled well at the death to keep Middlesex to 265 from their 50 overs.

In response Ayres got off to a typically rampaging start smashing 43 from 19 balls before he feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Davies off Ethan Bamber in the fifth over with the score on 46.

A couple more quick wickets left Gloucestershire on the back foot at 54-3. The middle order got themselves in but kept losing wickets at crucial points. Hankins (40) was joined by Hooper (23) and they got some control back for Gloucestershire with a partnership of 65.

But when both players fell in quick succession Gloucestershire lacked the firepower to keep up with rate. Under-14 al-lrounder Will Naish (Frocester) made a mature 21 before he was run out and from then on Middlesex had the game won. Gloucestershire were eventually bowled out for 200 in the 44th over.

Gloucestershire coach Tim Hancock said: “The boys can be proud of a good run in the competition but they will rightly feel disappointed with the result.

“In the last 15 overs we missed a few opportunities which could have kept the score down. With the bat the lads needed to stay in the moment and kick on from promising starts and convert to big totals.

“This was shown by their two top scorers getting 70-plus and ours only scoring 40s. However, these matches will have given many of the players confidence for the upcoming three-day games.”

Other Images

Gloucestershire under-14 wicketkeeper Max Trotman

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