Match Reports

Somerset vs Gloucestershire U18's Development (Friendly)

Our U18’s Development side had their second run out of the season to give themselves a chance to gel together as a team for a full fixture schedule for the 2021 season.

The side were taking on a strong Somerset U18’s Development team at Bedminster CC. Somerset won the toss and elected to bat on a thankfully dry day in Bristol, but the pitch and ground had been affected quite badly due to the poor weather conditions overnight.

Proceedings got off to a perfect start, with a dismissal first ball of the match thanks to Isaac Tagg (2 for 13). Will Hope (1 for 34) also chipping in, having their other opener caught cheaply leaving the home side in trouble at 22 for 2. This brought to the crease the impressive Josh F Thomas Jnr for Somerset who dominated their innings scoring 116 off 83 balls before retiring, he looked a class above and hit 14 boundaries with 8 of those being maximums. Kameel Sahabdeen (2 for 51) bowled well to provide us with some control in the middle overs and knock over Thomas Jnr partners as we were able to dismiss Somerset who were all out for 259.

Will Hope (39) & Soban Irfan (27) fought hard for a top order partnership of 70 and got us in a comfortable position for the run chase before Hope was caught with the score now at 75 for 2. Somerset then brought into the attack Rufus Williams-Pritchard (4 for 31), who made a significant impact against our middle order which flipped the game on its head. Captain Ben French (25) showed resistance with the bottom order, but in the end, Somerset proved too strong, and we were all out for 160 losing by 99 runs.

A lot to learn from this defeat, but plenty of positives to take on board as we move onto our next fixture against Staffordshire on the 20th May. We would like to thank Bedminster CC for their efforts to keep this match on considering the weather conditions over the weekend and appreciate Somerset along with the officials being as keen as ourselves to get the game on.