The weather badly effected Barrow Gurney’s weekend of cricket, causing 2 games to be abandoned before a conclusion could be reached and causing the First XI game to be shortened to the advantage of Barrow’s opponents.
At Hobbs Lane, Barrow Firsts put together a solid batting performance against Chilcompton First XI, making 243 for 7 in their 40 overs. Bernie Forge opened up with 30, Mark Brown continued his good season with another half century (57), Ben Skuse added a tidy 42 whilst Guy Fisher and Ed Holdaway made 28 apiece.
Rain prolonged the interval between innings which then meant Chilcompton faced an easier target of 165 off 27 overs. Barrow had suffered a number of late withdrawals due to players having to self-isolate, and the bowling attack was especially effected. Nevertheless, Mark Fisher (1/28) and Oscar Livesey (1/27) bowled their 6 overs economically to put pressure on the visitors. However, with 18 needed off 2 overs, a series of clean hits took the game away from Barrow who really needed a win to consolidate their promotion chances in Division 5.
The 2s played their game in St George Vth Park in Downend on an uncovered wicket against Coalpit Heath 3s. On a pitch with variable bounce, Barrow’s top order found scoring hard apart from a sprightly 37 from Paul Gard. Simon Hudson (17) also made a useful contribution before 9th wicket pair Adam Brace (22) and Pete Holdaway (23 not out) lifted the score to a competitive 151 all out. With the Coalpit reply barely begun, a downpour drenched both the pitch and the players and the game was abandoned.
On Sunday Barrow’s game at Keynsham fared much the same. Mark Fisher’s sparkling 80 not out, ably supported by debutant Daniel West (14 not out) looked likely to set a challenging total, but at 144-3 off 30.5 overs the rain swept in and that was that.