Bristol’s firsts are off-and-running in the WEPL Premier 1, with a win by 37 runs, over Downend. It was an intriguing contest in which 20 of the 88 overs bowled were maidens, seven of them wicket-maidens, and two wickets fell on the same score four times.

With three changes from the previous week’s defeat at Potterne – Noema-Barnett, Patel and Brewer in for Roderick, Shaw and Trenouth, Bristol were put in to bat and, notwithstanding a few early alarms, Bracey and Fellowes came through the initial powerplay unscathed. Gregory always threatened from the pavilion end, but the batsmen exploited the greater number of scoring opportunities offered by Reynolds-Pringle at the other. The score had reached 59 when Phil Jackson replaced Reynolds-Pringle. The first five balls of his first over yielded 14 runs, but off the last Fellowes, who had been stuck on 19 for 12 deliveries got a leading edge and the bowler took an acrobatic one-handed catch. Noema-Barnett accompanied Bracey to his fifty, but Currill was finding significant lateral movement and, at times, alarming bounce from the pavilion end and induced an edge from Bracey. Loud took a good catch at slip and the Bristol skipper departed for a 65-ball 57, with a six and nine fours. The first 23 overs of Bristol’s innings had yielded 101 runs for 2 wickets. The next 23 would produce just 64 runs and 8 wickets as all the Downend bowlers extracted help from the pitch.

Brewer had a harsh introduction to first team cricket, edging his sixth ball to the keeper without scoring. He would later excel in the field, though. Ellison fell the same way for just one run more, but not before Noema-Barnett, who had looked to be building a platform for a later onslaught, was bowled by Phil Jackson. Hardwick and Sillence were both LBW, the latter for a 19-ball duck. Probert and Patel added 21 valuable runs but with Downend employing four slips and no batsman apart from Bracey and, briefly, Noema-Barnett looking anything resembling comfortable, the end was not to be delayed for long.

With 165 runs on the board, the key question was whether Bristol’s bowlers could exploit the conditions to the same effect as Downend’s. The signs were encouraging as Patel bowled three straight maidens, then Noema-Barnett had Penn competently taken by Fellowes at third slip. The first ball of Patel’s next over sent Grieshaber’s off stump cartwheeling and Downend were 7 for 2.
It might have been 15 for 3 when the dangerous Gilmour skied one straight up in the air off Patel. What should have been a simple catch was complicated by various obstacles (umpire, stumps, non-striker, etc) that the bowler had to navigate around, and having pirouetted twice, he seemed to become disoriented and couldn’t cling on to the chance.

It looked like this might prove costly as Gilmour, in company with Roberts, added 56 in 11 overs, but Jones, replacing the excellent Patel at the pavilion end, induced Roberts to edge to first slip where Noema-Barnett snaffled the chance. The very next over a spectacular one-handed diving catch by the same fielder saw the end of Gilmour and at 63-4 the match was very much in the balance. Lezar and Loud inched the total up to 88 without further loss, but then Noema-Barnett returned for a decisive second spell in which he dismissed both.
Meanwhile Probert was applying relentless pressure from the pavilion end and was finally rewarded when Reynolds-Pringle took the aerial route to cover and Brewer made no mistake. Jones returned and bowled with sufficient hostility to defeat Downend’s tail, Matt Jackson playing on, and both Currill and Gregory falling to catches behind off well-directed bouncers.

There were some impressive bowling figures in the Bristol camp: Jones 4-33, Noema-Barnett 3-14 off 9, Probert 1-15 off 6, and Patel 1-18 off 7. But the true value of Bracey’s innings became clearer as the game went on and virtually all the other batsmen struggled (only one other batsman in the game scored more than 20) and this was arguably the difference between the sides.