Barrow Gurney’s cricket teams were heavily in debt to the Owen family this Saturday with outstanding performances in both Saturday games. The 1st XI pulled off a win at Almondsbury, but the 2s season of misfortune continued as they let slip a winning position at home.
Away at Almondsbury, Barrow bowled well as a unit to dismiss the hosts for 166, with an early burst from Mark Fisher (2/15) having Almondsbury 8-2. A rally followed led by Jason Phillips (61), before Frank Forge (2/46) and Kieran Owen (2/27) struck. But it was the return of Kieran’s brother Matt for a second spell which was decisive as he took the last 4 Almondsbury wickets in 8 balls for 1 run to finish with 4/19 in all.
In reply Barrow were made to fight for their runs and whilst Oscar Livesey (36) anchored the innings there were useful contributions from Ellie Holdaway (18), Guy Fisher (21) and Kieran Owen (21) before Bernie Forge (25 not out) saw the visitors across the line with 3 overs to spare to record a 4 wicket win.
Meanwhile at Hobbs Lane Barrow 2s faced a must-win game against Thornbury 4s. In the early afternoon it seemed like plain sailing as Steve Owen bowled with precision and some swing taking 5 for 8 in his 8 over spell to leave the visitors reeling at 94-9. As so often this season, Barrow failed to drive home their advantage and the last wicket added 101 with Sunil Reddy scoring an excellent 72. Simon Hudson also took 2/36.
An early run out dented Barrow’s chances, but Ali Hood hit another powerful 63 and found welcome company in the back to form Mark Gracey (52). At 129-2 Barrow were on course for a win but another batting collapse against bowlers who began to find some prodigious turn from the wicket caused Barrow to come up a disappointing 15 runs short. Relegation now seems an inevitability with only 2 games to go.
On Sunday another poor Barrow Gurney batting performance left Westerleigh only 137 to chase for a first win of the season, Guy Fisher top-scoring with 41. The visitors had some alarms against a spirited Barrow attack but ran out 6 wicket winners.