Gloucestershire Under 17 Girls v Wales Under 17 Girls (at Lydney CC)
ECB Women’s Under 17 County Championship, Group A, Division 4
Wales 96 all out (33.5 overs)
Gloucestershire 97-4 (28.1 overs)
Gloucestershire won by 6 wickets
Scorecard

And

Gloucestershire Under 17 Girls v Somerset Under 17 Girls (at Cirencester CC)
ECB Women’s Under 17 County Championship, Group A, Division 4
Somerset 76 all out (29.2 overs)
Gloucestershire 79-4 (31 overs)
Gloucestershire won by 6 wickets
Scorecard

Gloucestershire Under 17 Women moved into second place in their ECB County Championship division with comprehensive six wicket victories over Wales and Somerset respectively.

Against Wales, Alice Hill (Charlton Kings) instigated a collapse that saw the visitors slip from 45-1 to 96 all out. The offspinner broke the opening stand of 45 by removing Seren Hughes (9) and went on to take 4-13 in eight miserly overs.

Hill took three of the first four wickets to fall including that of the dangerous Alexandra Griffiths who made 40 from 45 balls. Griffiths, who fell with the score on 61, proved the key wicket of the day as no one else was able to reach double figures.

Seamers Helen Cutler (1-12) (Claverham) and Alice Mundy (2-10) (Fairford) both proved effective foils for Hill and there were also wickets for Chloe Skelton (Newent) who took 2-5 to help clean up the tail.

In reply Gloucestershire were wobbling at 25-2 and 38-3 but Hill completed a fine all-round performance by holding the innings together with a steady 33 not out. She shared in a 34 run partnership with Abbie Whybrow (23) (Dumbleton) before combining with Zoe Dibble (12 not out) (Corse and Staunton) to see Gloucestershire to a comfortable win in the 29th over.

The Under 17s followed up the victory over Wales with a similarly emphatic success over Somerset.

Hill was in the thick of the action again, opening the bowling and taking 3-12 as the visitors were bowled out for just 76. Legspinner Bea Ellis (Charlton Kings) picked up 3-15 and Cutler took 2-15 as the last seven wickets fell for 34 runs.

Chasing 77 to win Gloucestershire were in big trouble at 2-2 with both openers back in the pavilion.

But a partnership of 55 between Skelton (34) and Lucia Carini-Roberts (24 not out) (Aston Ingham) steadied the ship and put the home side back on course. Skelton departed with 20 still needed but Carini-Roberts held her nerve.

Gloucestershire lost another wicket before reaching their target but completed a second six wicket win of the week in the 31st over.

Gloucestershire Under 15 Girls v Wales Under 17 Girls (at Briton Ferry Steel CC)
ECB Women’s Under 15 County Championship, Group A, Division 4
Gloucestershire 182 all out (35.3 overs)
Wales 183-5 (26.2 overs)
Wales won by 5 wickets
Scorecard

Gloucestershire Under 15 Girls remain top of their County Championship division despite suffering a five wicket defeat to Wales.

But their second defeat of the league season means they can now be passed by a number of sides who have games in hand.

Against Wales, Gloucestershire won the toss but got off to a very poor start as they lost both openers with just four runs on the board. 4-2 soon became 18-3 but the visitors fought back with a fourth wicket partnership of 89 between captain Bea Ellis* (54) (Charlton Kings) and Lottie Gilderson (47) (Dumbleton).

When they departed, Lilly Knox (30) (Frenchay) held the innings together, before her side were finally dismissed for 182 in the 36th over.

In reply, Wales made an excellent start thanks to an opening partnership of 61 between Libby Thomas (18) and Sophia Smale (43).

Their stand was ended by Phoebe Bradford (3-33) (Frenchay) who bowled Thomas before dismissing Esme Jones (2) soon after to make it 70-2.

Bradford’s impressive spell continued as she picked up her third wicket when Smale was caught by Isabel Carey (Frenchay) to leave Wales still needing 107 runs.

When Ellis took the wicket of Megan Skone (8) the home side were stuttering on 94-4 and Gloucestershire were right in the game. However, Wales number four Chloe Thomas had other ideas and took the game away from her opponents with a match-winning 61 from just 46 balls. She fell with seven runs needed but by then it was too little too late.

Gloucestershire Under 12 Boys v Wiltshire Under 12 Boys (at Potterne CC)
Friendly
Gloucestershire 193-8 (40 overs)
Wiltshire 173 all out (39.1 overs)
Gloucestershire won by 20 runs
Scorecard

Thornbury’s Zain Syed struck a sparkling 78 to lead Gloucestershire Under 12s to a 20 run win over Wiltshire.

Opening the batting, Syed struck 14 fours and a six in a classy innings that helped his side to a total of 193-8 from their 40 overs.

Gloucestershire’s bowlers then held their nerve to bowl their hosts out for 173 in the final over of an entertaining contest.

Having won the toss and elected to bat Gloucestershire suffered an early blow as they were reduced to 12-1. But they recovered through a series of partnerships held together by Syed who played superbly throughout.

The biggest of these was a third wicket stand of 42 with club teammate Iwan Price (12). When Syed was finally dismissed with the score on 117-5 he had made two thirds of his side’s runs, taking 93 balls for his 78.

His departure – which was the second wicket to fall in quick succession – put the Gloucestershire innings back in the balance. But again the visitors rose to the challenge as Archie Newton (22 from 24) (Bristol YMCA) and Henry Snow (21) (Dumbleton) added a crucial 41 for the sixth wicket.

They were well-supported by quick-fire contributions from Henry Trotman (10) (Winterbourne) and Spencer Gammon (Whitchurch) who struck 15 off just six balls – including 3 fours – to help his side post 193-8 from their 40 overs.

In reply, Wiltshire made a solid start, reaching 20-0 but lost two wickets without adding to their total as Trotman bowled Shardlow (12) and Sam Gregory (Frocester) ran out the other opener Welsh (5).

This brought Wilts skipper Sam Ashman to the crease and he scored the lion’s share of the runs in a third wicket stand of 29 before his partner Thirumala (4) became the first of three victims for Henry Snow (3-25).

Thirumala’s replacement, Carroll, couldn’t get going and was eventually put out of his misery by Frocester’s Archie Baker for a 15-ball stay that yielded just 1 run to make it 57-4.

But with Ashman at the crease Wilts were still in the game and beginning to increase their run rate in ominous fashion. The Gloucestershire bowlers stuck to their task and stemmed the flow of runs with wickets at regular intervals.

Baker (3-32) picked up two of these including the key one of Ashman who departed for an excellent run-a-ball 64 to make it 125-7. The lower order continued to fight on, scoring their runs at a healthy rate to stay in the game.

Snow returned to take two more wickets but the match still came down to the final over with 20 runs needed for Wilts with one wicket remaining.

On a small ground, the game was far from over but it was emphatically ended one ball later as the returning Trotman had Joe Malherbe caught by Syed to wrap up a hard-earned win.

Gloucestershire Under 17 Boys Development v Devon Under 17 Development (at Great Rissington CC)
Friendly
Devon 1st inns 345-3 dec (66 overs) and 2nd inns 71-6 (24. 3 overs)
Gloucestershire 1st inns 83-2 dec (36 overs) and 2nd inns 316 all out (78.4 overs)
Devon won by 17 runs
Scorecard

Gloucestershire Under 17 Development fell to a 17 run defeat to Devon in spite of a superb century by 14-year-old Tommy Boorman (Dumbleton).

The opener made 101 as his side fell just short of their second innings target of 334 in the two-day game at Great Rissington CC.

On day one, Devon batted first and racked up a dominant 345-3 declared in 66 overs. Opening bowlers Alex Wilson (1-55) (Twyford House) and Oliver Wood (2-41) (Cirencester) were the only wicket-takers as Gloucestershire were made to toil in the field.

Devon skipper Joe Du’ Gay top scored with 131 and Cameron Kidd made an unbeaten 85 from 80 balls to post a strong first innings total.

In reply, Boorman made 45 and Ewen Gegg added 26 not out as Gloucestershire declared on 83-2 after 36 overs to try and set the match up. Devon responded by scoring 71-6 and declaring in the 25th over to give Gloucestershire a target of 334 to chase.

Wickets were shared around with left arm spinner Max Shephard picking up 2-18 as Devon reshuffled their batting line-up.

In the second innings run chase, Gloucestershire saw off the opening bowlers and reached 37 before Praneel Choughule (Thornbury) became the first of six victims for Josh Farley when he was clean bowled for 6.

Boorman and Gegg then combined for the second time in the match, this time adding 124 before Gegg became the second wicket to fall for a well-made 57. Boorman continued to play fluently for a deserved hundred that included 14 fours.

He fell soon after bringing up the milestone to leave Gloucestershire on 193-4 with two new batsmen at the crease.

Max Trotman (44) (Twyford House) and Owen Lingard (36) (Winterbourne) put their side back on course with a partnership of 71. But when the latter fell with the score on 264 it sparked a collapse that saw four wickets fall for 11 runs.

Wood (24) and Sam Swingwood (9) (Monmouth) staged a late fightback with a stand of 33 but it proved in vain as Gloucestershire were eventually bowled out for 316 in the 79th over.