A hat trick from Mark Fisher in the Bristol Midweek League on Thursday helped Barrow Gurney over come the disappointment of being knocked out of the Tony Hitch Cup the night before.
The Barrow Gurney team model the new T20 kit
Playing for the first time in the new midweek coloured kit, sponsored by Audioistic, Abbots Leigh had raced to 32 when Mark Fisher struck dismissing the skipper, Jonny Weber clean bowled, a feat which he then repeated twice more to take a remarkable hat trick. His 3/17, together with Nick Heal’s 2 wickets for 7 runs and Phil Taylor’s 2/32 restricted Abbots Leigh to 109-9.
An astonished Abbots Leigh batsman looks back at his broken stumps for Mark Fisher’s second wicket
The hat trick ball just before once again hitting the timbers.
Barrow’s reply started disastrously as wickets tumbled and they found themselves 11-4. As no other batsman made double figures, Ben Hodges was forced to play a lone hand, which he did brilliantly to take his team home, making 63 not out in the process.
Ben Hodges’s 63 not out was the match winning innings
It was a different story though for Barrow on the previous evening as Backwell Flax Bourton knocked them out of the Tony Hitch Cup.
Batting first Barrow put on a competitive 154-8 with Kieran Owen making 35 at the end of the innings to build on Mark Brown’s 34 at the start. Mark Fisher (2/20) kept things tight and there were successes too for Nick Heal (2/38) with a wicket each for Guy Fisher and Frank Forge. With 3 overs to go and over 30 runs needed, the visitors launched their attack taking 24 of a Ben Hodges over, eventually winning with 7 balls to spare.