Barrow Gurney notched up a pair of wins on Saturday to strengthen their positions in their respective divisions.
At Hobbs Lane there was a rain affected game against local rivals Blagdon, reduced to 23 overs. Batting first the visitors relied heavily on Charlie Ward who batted throughout the innings for 45 not out. Four wickets from Frank Forge for only 22 runs in his 5 overs rocked Blagdon, with Guy Fisher taking 2 for 28 at the other end. Freddie Patch (35 not out) then moved the score onto 123-7 at the innings break.
Frank Forge bowling (library pic)
Barrow then had a bit of a shaky start until at 39-4, Ben Hodges and Phil Milton came together. Hodges was in aggressive mood hitting 5 sixes in his 43, whilst Milton set himself to see the team home, finishing on 31 not out as he did so. Mark Fisher (14 not out) accompanied him as Barrow ran out 5 wicket winners.
Ben Hodges batting against Blagdon
Unfortunately, a win for Long Ashton meant that Barrow made no headway in their drive to finish 3rd in Division 4. But third place in Division 13 is exactly where the Second XI found themselves after a convincing win away at Midsomer Norton.
Batting first on a damp pitch, Barrow put on 173-9, with several players contributing double figure scores, supporting a good innings of 33 not out from Paul Gard. The home side struggled against some accurate Barrow bowling. Linden Alway’s 4 for18 ripped the heart out of the middle order supported by Charlotte Huntley’s 2 for 19. Matt Edgar then finished things off with the final 3 wickets for only 5 runs. A 99 run victory leaves the team in good spirits with 2 games to go.