In a thrilling contest at Whitchurch Cricket Club, the hosts edged out Barrow Gurney CC by just two runs in a tightly fought T20 encounter.
Having won the toss, Whitchurch opted to bat first. Luke Cooper (28 off 23) and Harry Watkins (33 off 29) got the innings off to a flyer, building a solid platform. Kieran Owen and Mark Fisher’s figures didn’t reflect how well they bowled with some suspect fielding not helping their case. Nick Heal (2-23) got the breakthrough almost instantly with a catch by Frank Forge making good yardage from long off. Nick then got Fergus Bowen (11) stumped to leave Whitchurch 75-2 with 11 overs to go. A good recovery in the last 10 helped by Guy Fisher (1-16) and Frank (3-18) held Whitchurch to 128-8. Phil Taylor also got a wicket in the final overs with a rather casual one handed catch from Nick at midwicket. 128 looked a competitive total on a sticky slow wicket.
Barrow Gurney’s reply got off to a stuttering start, losing early wickets to the disciplined bowling of Ben Thatcher (1-17) and Matt Cadell (1- 24). A counterattacking 41 from Samuel Mitchell, which included three towering sixes, kept Barrow in the hunt. Middle over bowling from James England (2-27) meant Barrow could never get ahead of the rate. Contributions from Ben Hodges and Guy Fisher pushed them close, but needing 14 off the last proved 2 runs too many. A good recovery having needed 14 an over the last 3 overs but not quite enough to get over the line as BGCC finished 126-7.