Gloucestershire U14 Boys v Millfield School (away)

Friendly

Gloucestershire U14 281-7 (50 overs)
Millfield 146 all out (35.4 overs)

Gloucestershire won by 135 runs

A superb century from Ollie McConkey (Reading) helped Gloucestershire Under 14s make a winning start to their season with a 135-run defeat of Milfield School.

McConkey’s unbeaten 103 – which came off just 91 balls – led his side to 281-7 from their 50 overs before a good all-round display in the field saw the hosts dismissed for 146 in the 36th over.

After winning the toss, Gloucestershire were in trouble as two wickets for Barney French reduced them to 17-2 after nine overs.

But they fought back with a partnership of 61 between Tommy Boorman (Dumbleton) and Ahmed Syed (Thornbury).

Opener Boorman had begun watchfully but became increasingly clinical as his innings progressed.

At the other end Syed rotated the strike well and the pair looked untroubled until Boorman (51) was caught trying to launch off spinner Farmer down the ground shortly after reaching his 50.

The wicket brought McConkey to the crease and he looked at ease from the start. Playing straight and punishing the bad ball, his innings was a study in controlled aggression from the outset. McConkey and Syed added 72 for the fourth wicket before the latter was trapped LBW for a county best score of 44.

With the total on 150-4 McConkey was now in full flow, proving impossible to tie down. Partners came and went but he held the Gloucestershire innings together, fittingly bringing up his first county 100 with a boundary.

He received good support from Toby Rice (Lodway) who made 21 not out in an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 43 to help Gloucestershire finish on 281-7.

In reply Gloucestershire got off to the best possible start when Ahmed Tabraiz (1-29) (Pak Bristolians) took a stunning catch off his own bowling to dismiss Davies on the very first ball of the Millfield innings.

Diving one handed to his left Tabraiz held on to a fiercely struck drive inches from the ground to make it 0-1. The second wicket was more fortuitous as Farmer was run out backing up via a deflection from bowler Charlie Brook (2-19) (Cirencester).

But there was nothing fortunate about the next wicket as Brook completed a simple caught and bowled chance following a hostile delivery to make it 13-3 two balls later.

The counterattacking Fitch led a fightback for the home side but Brook was in the action again in the 10th over when another quick delivery was miscued to Syed to make it 36-4.

Fitch continued to give the Gloucestershire bowlers something to think about with some clean hitting but with no one able to make a meaningful contribution at the other end it seemed a matter of when, not if, Gloucestershire would wrap up the victory.

Wickets were shared around including two apiece for Syed (2-25) and Jack Studley (2-25) (Winterbourne) who completed the win in the 36th over with the dismissal of Fitch for 69.

Next up for the Under 14s is a friendly v Worcestershire at Stroud CC on Sunday 26th May before the start of their ECB Cup campaign.

Gloucestershire U17 Boys v Warwickshire U17 Boys (at Cheltenham College)

Friendly

Warwickshire 151 all out (45 overs)
Gloucestershire 152-9 (47.5 overs)

Gloucestershire won by 1 wicket

Gloucestershire Under 17s held their nerve to beat Warwickshire in a low scoring but closely fought encounter at Cheltenham College.

Chasing a modest 152 for victory, the home side needed a stubborn 32 not out from 92 balls from Frocester’s Ewan Gegg to hold the innings together and get them over the line with one wicket to spare.

Gegg came to the crease with his team having slipped from 52-1 – after to a breezy 26 from captain Daz Ahmed (Bishopston) – to 65-4. And the situation got worse as two more quick wickets saw Glos go six down with more than half of their target remaining.

Gegg and Charlie Slade (14) (Chippenham) helped their side rally before Slade was dismissed with the score on 92. Bedminster’s Adam Hares (20) showed stubborn resistance to turn things around, sharing in a 50 run with partnership with Gegg that was to prove pivotal.

When Hares fell, followed by Cyrus Shafi (Bristol YMCA) without adding to the score, Gloucestershire still needed 10 runs for victory and the tension was high. But Gegg kept his cool to seal the victory with 13 balls to spare.

Earlier three run outs – including two for Hares – contributed to Warwickshire’s downfall with the bat. There were also wickets for seamers Hares (1-28), Alex Haynes (2-19) (Cirencester) and Ahmed (2-15) and one each for spinners Alex Russell (Frocester) and Max Shepherd (Bourton Vale).

Gloucestershire U15 Boys v Warwickshire U15 Boys (at Stratford-Upon-Avon CC)

Friendly

Gloucestershire 129 all out (33.3 overs)
Warwickshire 130-7 (48.5 overs)

Warwickshire won by 3 wickets

Gloucestershire Under 15s fell to a three-wicket defeat to Warwickshire at Stratford-Upon-Avon CC.

Batting first, Gloucestershire started well, reaching 28 without loss before Praneel Choughule (Thornbury) was run out for 18. But after recovering from 30-2 to 72-3 a second run out – Stan Brown (13) (Cheltenham) – sparked a middle order collapse that saw four wickets fall for 11 runs.

Twenty-nine from 26 balls from Joe Durie (Old Bristolians Westbury) gave Gloucestershire some hope of posting a competitive total but they were eventually all out for 129.

In reply left arm spinner Ryan Kilmister (Dumbleton), opened the bowling and gave Gloucestershire hope, taking two early wickets in a miserly spell of 2-13 from 10.

Three run outs and a wicket each for Choughule (1-28) and Brown (1-30) kept Gloucestershire in the match at 82-7. But an eighth wicket stand of 46 from Vidhan Iyer (38*) and Dinuk De Siva (19*) ended hopes of an away victory as Warwickshire reached their target with just seven balls left.

The previous week the Under 15s beat Millfield School by 119 runs. George Driver-Dickerson (73 from 66 balls) (Frampton-on-Severn) and Brown (51) top scored as Gloucestershire posted a total of 280-9 from their 45 overs. In reply Rhys Price (3-19) (Thornbury), Will Hope (3-25) (Great Rissington) and Kilmister (3-38) took three wickets apiece to bowl the hosts out for 161 in 37 overs.

Gloucestershire U13 Girls Development v Worcestershire U13 Girls Development (at Old Swinford CC)

Friendly

Worcestershire 114-6 (20 overs)
Gloucestershire 75-8 (20 overs)

Worcestershire won by 39 runs

And

Gloucestershire 47 all out (14 overs)
Worcestershire 49-0 (9.4 overs)

Worcestershire won by 10 wickets

Gloucestershire Under 13 Girls Development squad suffered two defeats in their double-header against Worcestershire.

But there were a number of excellent individual performances with both bat and ball. In the first match, Anna Fitzgerald (Bristol YMCA) took 2-6 and there was one apiece for her club mates Abigail Woodworth (1-23), Sophie Granville-George (1-11) and Charlton Kings’ Issy Huggett (1-16) as Worcestershire made 114-6 from their 20 overs. In reply Lauren Luxton (Charlton Kings) top scored with a patient 13 from 46 balls.