After an exceptionally wet April it was quite amazing that the Hobbs Lane ground was playable for 3 out of 4 pre season friendlies before the League season started on 4 May.
Barrow Gurney’s First XI led once again by Connor Jones, stumbled in the opening game scoring only 118 against a Bristol Lions team sporting 2 former Barrow players. The away side won comfortably. This was unfortunately followed up with a further defeat at Uni Staff, despite Mark Fisher’s 6 for 26 putting Barrow in strong position. Needing 179 to win, Barrow folded to 151 all out although Mark Brown’s half century made whilst batting with a runner briefly offered a glimmer of hope.
In stark contrast Barrow’s second XI (captained by Peter Rooney) got off to a much more impressive start winning their first two games. Barrow started out by making 218-7 at Lodway on a wet pitch due to the skill of women’s county cricketer Bernie Forge (41) and the good fortune of Mark Gracey (40) with Keiran Owen also making 38 not out. In reply Lodway were shot out for only 19. Dave Smith took 4/11 whilst Frank Forge took 2 wickets for only 1 run and only a dropped chance deprived him of a hat trick. In their first home game Barrow restricted Tamil Nadu to 195-8 with Steve Owen and Linden Alway taking 3 wickets apiece. An unbroken second wicket partnership of 173 between Sam Mitchell (88) and Guy Fisher (74) gave Barrow an emphatic win.