Frome 1st XI were comprehensively beaten for the first time in the 2016 season by 8 wickets.
Frome won the toss and decided to bat first after defending totals impressively in the opening two weekends. Their openers got off to a slow but steady start after a great opening spell of swing bowling from Brockwell. Paul Sanger and Dan Dredge (17) took the score to 48 before Dredge was caught at point which undone the early hard work.
The home side’s bowlers kept it tight and only Sanger was able to score freely. Wickets fell around the Frome opener and only a partnership of 49 with Smart (22) helped Frome gain some momentum in the middle overs.
Overs and partners were running out for Paul Sanger, he was joined by captain and brother Mark Sanger who put on 17 for the seventh wicket but it was the fantastic Paul Sanger who was eventually caught on the boundary for a magnificent 94. Frome finally finished 194-8 off their fifty overs with Mark Sanger (16 not out) and Clive Hamblin (6 not out) scrapping their way to the end of the innings in what looked and defendable total.
Wembon came out looking to hit boundaries early on and succeeded with Bingham (94 not out) looking to attack in the powerplay. With the home side on 45 for just the loss of one wicket in the first ten overs, Frome knew they needed a couple of wickets to put them right back in the contest. They managed to pick up one from the bowling of David Dredge but this only bought Marrs (64 not out) in to join Bingham.
This pair knocked the ball around in the GPs well which frustrated the Frome bowling attack. Captain Sanger used his bowling options to try and find a breakthrough but it just wasn’t to be the showmen’s day. These two took the home side to victory with seven overs remaining, only two wickets down.
After a hard day for a young Frome side, they will be looking to bounce back quickly when they travel to Staplegrove on Saturday, 1pm start.
