On Saturday, there were four fixtures for the TCC Men's teams, whicch drew a mixed bag of results.
1st XI
The 1st XI, fresh from a thumping victory over Lansdown in Week 1, batted first vs Taunton Deane away from home. Dan Lezar and Ed Webb got the side off to a good start, but Dan could count himself unlucky as he was adjudged to be out LBW from the bowling of 6"9 Edward Mellor for 29, TCC 37-1. Spin was introduced from both ends and that spelled trouble for the TCC batters. Jack Taylor, Marc Lezar, Praneel Choughule and Chris Matthews all were unstuck by the Taunton Deane spinners, whilst Ed Webb chipped to cover for a well-made 37. At 115-6, a partnership between Josh Slade and Josh Riggs was needed. Riggsy hit the first maximum of the innings, but shortly after a mix-up saw Riggs run out for 12. Spin continued to cause havoc as Sam Summerfield, Harry Wormwell and Tom Vermaak all fell in quick succession. TCC all out for a sub-par 146, with Josh Slade 17*. Edward Middleton undoubtedly the standout performer with figures of 9.5-0-23-5.
In response, TCC needed early wickets and plenty of them. Unfortunately, too many loose deliveries were offered and Taunton Deane's openers put them away with ease. Harry Wormwell bowled Luke Willaims for 15 and Marc Lezar had a wicket when Tenessee Harlow edged to Praneel at first slip, who took a smart catch. Jack Taylor took 2 wickets in quick succession to reduce the score to 92-4, which offered Thornbury a glimmer of hope. But Will Smale and Edward Middleton rallied and saw Taunton Deane home to a 6 wicket victory. Next up for the 1's is the visit of Bedminster to the Ship on the 21st.
2nd XI
The 2nds hosted Poulton CC at the Ship and batted first. Simon Weeks, Vishal Mamgai and Marcus Wormwell all fell relatively early to restrict to Thornbury to 50-3, but James Tunnicliffe and Andy Weeks recovered the innings with a partnership of 77. Both batters fell for 37, but some late hitting from Mike Barrett got the 2's up a competitive 216-6 from our 45 overs.
In response, Poulton managed the run chase very well, with all batters contributing to produce handy partnerships for the visitors. Wickets were shared between Kapil Agarwal, Alex Foulner, Tunni and 2 for captain Greg Mallitte. There was, apparently, a special catch from Tunni but it wasn't caught on camera so you'll have to take his word for it. Poulton won by 5 wickets with just under 5 overs to spare. The 2's travel all the way to Chipping Campden on Saturday for league match #3.
3rd XI
Jordan Hicks' tricky 3's travelled to Golden Hill Sports ground to play Golden Hill's 3's, who played on the pitch next to the Golden Hill 1st XI vs Downend 1st XI game which featured Gloucestershire's Ajeet Singh Dale and Ian Cockbain. A similar standard of cricket could not be guaranteed on the neighbouring pitch. It was not vintage cricket from Thornbury, with David 'Walter' Hammond top-scoring with 20 (5 x 4's).
In response, Colin Blick removed opening batter Tom Burgess for 2 but then Golden Hill went on the offensive in pursuit of an early finish. Joe Woodworth and Henry Taubman started striking boundaries at will and secured a 9 wicket victory from just 17 overs. 3 defeats out of 3 on this sunny Saturday, unhappy hour was on the cards. The 3's host Taveners at Tockington Manor, keep an eye out for the team line-up...
4th XI
Any hopes of a Saturday win rested on the shoulder's of the 4's who managed to scrape together an XI at the last minute, to play against Golden Hill 5ths at Tockington Manor.
Golden Hill batted first and while opening batter Gerry Davis went about his business in a professional manner, there was carnage at the other end. Oli Nash picked up figures of 8-6-3-2 and Sunil Reddy claimed figures of 5-0-12-4, with the remaining 2 wickets going to Oliver Rigby, who made his TCC debut on Saturday. Great to see Josie Drury and Nathan Jones both contributing with the ball, too! Golden Hill made 125-8 from their 40, with Davis' 45 the top score.
Richard 'Harry' Hawkins fielded in TCC training gear (including shorts) but drove home at the interval to get his whites, to open the batting in the 2nd innings. He scored 32, with fellow opener Gerhard Kotze notching 23 to solidify the strong Thornbury start. There were 3 ducks for some of our youngsters, leaving it up to the old guard to get TCC the first win of the weekend. Harry Newton (12), Clive Blackwell (16) and 28* from Oliver Rigby on debut got TCC over the line on 128-6 from 30.4 overs. A great game of cricket and big thanks to everyone that committed to playing when the game looking in jeopardy at one point! The 4's travel to Coalpit Heath on Saturday in search of another win!