South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | June | 24
From the Gazette, first published Friday 24th Jun 2005.
Thornbury 1st XI v Stroud CC
Richard Trottman dominated Thornbury's victory over bottom placed Stroud on Saturday with both the bat and the ball.
Despite the ferocious heat, Neil Stovold sent his charges out to field on what looked a very good batting track at Stroud, but confident that his bowlers good restrict the bottom of the league side to a chasable target.
Opening bowlers Hughes and Fidoe began reasonably well, with the latter making the breakthrough when he took the edge of Jones' bat to be caught sharply by Neil Stovold at slip. After this though the Stroud batsmen acquired runs reasonably comfortably, whilst losing a steady trickle of wickets.
Neil Stovold, Ben Thompson and Fidoe each picked up a wicket but could not stem the flow of runs on the short boundaries. It took the introduction of Trottman, bowling off spin for the first time in competitive cricket to stem the flow of runs, picking up 3 well-worked dismissals. This could have been 4 had skipper Stovold not dropped what can only be described as a 'gooba' late on, although he redeemed himself with an intelligent run out the very next ball.
Stroud finished on 195 for 9, well below par on what was a minimum 250 run wicket. Mention must be made of a sterling fielding effort in the pounding heat, debutant Rick Wild, Kanushka and the bubbling Budd all fielded well, whilst Armstrong maintained his incredibly high standards behind the stumps and Summerfield's work with the Sunlight Training sponsored water bottles was a life saver for the fielders.
Neil Stovold and brother Nick formed an exciting opening partnership for the first tie this season, and seemingly Neil had better places to be by taking on the bowling from the word go, striking a boundary and charging the bowler in the very first over. His all to brief cameo was ended on 20 however when he was bowled through the gate eyeing up the leg side boundary.
This brought the promoted Trottman to the crease, batting at three for the first time this season with a point to prove. He immediately set about dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground, showing disdain for the below standard Stroud bowling attack, with a wide range of sublime strokes and ruthless brutality.
He notched up his maiden century for the club off just 58 balls, and put the result beyond doubt with a consummate ease that oozed his class. He was ably assisted at the other end by the once again defiant Nick Stovold, who for the second week running carried his bat with a well made 58, deserved of higher praise had he not been in the shadow of the terrific Trottman.
This victory saw them drop to fourth in the league, as the promotion chase hots up with 5 teams in the picture as they enter the half way stage. Thoughts now turn to Weston this Saturday and another hard fixture for the Thorns.
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