FROME 1st XI vs
Winterbourne 1st XI.
Winterbourne 1st XI – 216-3 (24 overs). Frome 1st XI – 140-9 (24 overs)
Winterbourne win
by 94 runs (D/L)
Dark rain clouds and a strong ‘end of season’ feeling hung over the Showground on Saturday when Frome welcomed Winterbourne CC from north Bristol for the final 1st team home game of 2021.
With Winterbourne sitting near the bottom of the table, there was also a fear of relegation surrounding the visitor’s team selection, which included the Gloucestershire captain James Bracey in their team. In fact, Bracey was fresh from playing 2 Test matches for England earlier this summer.
As a result of rain, the game started late and became a 35 overs contest, but as more rain swept in, a further reduction meant each side would face only 24 overs each.
Opening the innings for Winterbourne, the 24-year-old Bracey immediately showed exactly why he has been selected to play for England with some classic cover drives and sweetly timed shots all around the wicket. The Frome bowlers found it difficult to bowl to him and his innings of 91 came from only 69 balls, including 8 fours and 4 sixes.
Finally, trying to reverse sweep, he was bowled by skipper Mark Sanger’s leg spin. By this time, with the score on 166 in only the 20th over, the game had been virtually taken away from Frome, but Sanger will, nevertheless, be able to dine out for many years on the story of how he clean bowled a current England international at Fromefield.
As yet more rain swept in, the Duckworth Lewis calculators came out and Frome found themselves faced with having to chase down 235 in 24 overs to win, at a rate of virtually 10 runs per over. Although Reece Croker and Robin Lett set about the task with style, wickets began to fall and by the halfway stage Frome were 6wickets down and seemingly had little to play for but pride. Coming in at No 11, Mark Sanger enjoyed his second memorable moment of the match when, in the penultimate over, he hit James Bracey for 4.
Frome finished on 140 for 9, 94 runs short of the target, but considering that an England international had just scored 91, it doesn’t take much to work out that without Bracey, it could have been a much closer contest. Within the clubhouse, there was a sense of relief that the season was now nearly over. It has been a long hard summer with the usual difficulties along the way, but the club has much to be proud about. Having achieved promotion, they have secured their status in this league and many players do not look at all out of place at this level.
