Minchinhampton 1st XI played host to Gloucester Gladiators on Saturday, looking for revenge following the early season defeat at their place.
On arrival the Minch pitch looked to have a bit in it for both batsmen and bowlers, but with overcast conditions Skipper Pete Wallis decided to have a bowl first up. Openers Turton and Wallis initially found it hard going with Duggan and Stannard putting away anything slightly loose. But an early bowling change brought the break through, Stannard going after 1 too many and top edging 1 to square leg for Alex Waring to take a sharp catch of the bowling of Matt Richings. When Jaime Waring removed Duggan caught by Angus ‘Pickle’ Brunsdon, Holme added 17 before being bowled by Richings when the score was 72 for 3. But Minch really applied the pressure and regular wickets meant the Gladiators could only muster 116 ao from 32 overs, as no other player reached double figures. Matt Richings the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 25, Jaime Waring taking 3 for 28 and veteran John Turton returned to pick up 3 for 39. Brunsdon also kept things tight at the end with 4 overs for just 3 runs.
In reply Minch got off to a bad start with Alex Waring clean bowled for a duck after an initial great spell by skipper Kalcutt. At the other end a nasty injury to Duggan meant he could only bowl just over 2 overs, Minch in return supplying a sub fielder for the rest of the innings. When Phil Stephens fell for 8 and John Ablett made 6, Minch were wobbling a bit at 45 for 3 chasing the low total. But Ross Britton with 28 and Will Price with 27 steadied the ship hitting the boundary regularly and adding 40 for the 5th wicket. Brunsdon came in and added 16 all in boundaries before getting a low gruber clean bowled and it was left to Jaime Waring with 8 and Dave Cruickshank with 5 to see Minch home with 4 wickets in hand and 17 overs to spare. A good win for Minch, cementing their 2nd placed position in the table with just 2 games to go.
Minchinhampton Cricket Club 