Match Reports

Wiltshire Second XI vs Gloucestershire U18's (Friendly)

The U18’s pre-season preparation continued with a trip to Warminster CC to play a strong Wiltshire 2xi. Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to bat on a beautifully prepared wicket for an early April fixture.

We had a rocky start to the innings, with both openers dismissed by the impressive K Bennett-Thomas who bowled tightly and accurately right from the off to restrict us to 25-2 inside 10 overs.

However, the arrival of Ahmed Syed (Thornbury CC) to the crease who was fresh from his appearance for the Gloucestershire 2xi was a class above the rest and batted tremendously finishing 111*. Hitting 17 boundaries which included 5 sixes, we were unable to form any decent partnerships and he made sure that Gloucestershire finished with a sub-par total of 181 all out.

Credit must go to Wiltshire’s bowlers who bowled superbly and were challenging for our batting line up, K Bennett-Thomas & J King taking 3 wickets a piece for the 2xi side.

Wiltshire’s run chase started solidly, building a strong opening foundation with the openers reaching a 50 partnership. Hamdi Saleem (Downend CC) bowled consistently up front, making it hard for the openers to score freely. Shortly after the 50 opening partnership, we made initial breakthroughs courtesy of Jack Alway (Hanham CC) & Ahmed Syed.  

However, E Wade & G Edwards saw Wiltshire safely home quite convincingly within 35 overs and proved too strong for Gloucestershire. A special mention to Max Shepherd (Cheltenham CC) who bowled a very tidy 9 overs taking 1 for 46.

We would like to thank Wiltshire for hosting us and for Warminster CC for providing facilities on the day. Our next fixture takes place on Sunday 25th April against University of Exeter.

See Ahmed Syed reaching his century below, well batted Ahmed!