1st XI - Game 18 - Bristol 262-7, Frocester 246-9

Another fine century from Will Young helped Bristol end the season on a winning note, confirming them in fifth place in the league and snuffing out whatever small hope Frocester might have harboured of avoiding relegation. Young was at the crease for all but eleven balls of the Bristol innings, coming to the crease after Fin Trenouth was caught behind off the first ball of the game, and departing courtesy of a catch in the deep off the second ball of the 49th over. In between he faced 132 balls, hitting sixteen of them for four and one for a straight six into the road, finishing on 122 as Bristol set the hosts a challenging target.
Archie Fellowes opened the innings in the absence of both Bracey and Durrans. After losing his partner he hit three fours before hitting an easy catch to mid-off to give Ross Martin, who bowled four maidens in his first five overs, his second wicket and leave Bristol at 21 for 2. Matt Brewer came in at number four and rode his luck well. He played and missed repeatedly at Chris Liddle and survived confident appeals for LBW and caught-behind off the same bowler, as well as nearly being run out going for an optimistic second run to third man. Nevertheless, Brewer was the dominant contributor in the third wicket stand of 52 with Young, as the Kiwi, after opening his account with two fours off Liddle, took his time playing himself in and was content to pick up singles.
Brewer’s departure for 37 triggered a mini-collapse as 73 for 2 became 96 for 5 seven overs later with Louie Shaw and Will Rudge both falling to catches in the ring off the young leg-spinner Alex Russell.
Young and Tommy Probert then put on exactly 100 in 14 overs and took the game away from Frocester. Young, who started the partnership on 28 off 61 balls, moved up a gear, following up his straight six off Drake with a deft late cut for four, and twice threading back-cuts to the boundary just out of reach of the diving backward point’s left hand and just beyond the reach of third man sprinting round the boundary to his right. Probert, for his part, responded to his elevation up the order to number seven with what must be his most significant league innings for the 1st XI. He scored 42 off 45 balls with five fours and a six off Chad Trainor on to the pavilion roof.
Trainor had a modicum of revenge, holding the catch at deep mid-off off Ross Martin that ended Probert’s innings, but Young then found an ideal foil in Vir Lakhani whose ambitious running kept the pressure on Frocester, who were unable to take any of at least three run-out chances they were offered. After reaching his century in the 46th over, Young really opened his shoulders and took 18 off the next, bowled by Chris Liddle.
After Young’s dismissal, Lakhani and Ash Joyner rustled up 14 more runs of the last ten balls of the innings, so Bristol finished on 262 for 7, Ross Martin (4-33) and Alex Russell (2-38) being the pick of Frocester’ s bowlers. This did at least give Frocester the opportunity to score maximum batting points if they overhauled it, which, as news came through that Taunton St Andrews had secured five bowling points against Downend, they would need to do for the loss of no more than two wickets (and the Saints score no batting points) to avoid the drop.
After taking a couple of overs to get their radar aligned, Bristol’s openers Rudge and Probert asked questions of the Frocester batsmen, but the home side weathered the storm and reached the twenty over mark on 80 for just the loss of Chris Whincup, bowled by Rudge. Brewer had dropped Qureshi behind the stumps when he had 16 (a difficult one-handed chance to his right) and Will Naish had just launched Joyner into the trees for six. But Naish succumbed to the Bristol spinners. After being shackled by a maiden from Lakhani, he hit a long-hop from the wily Pollard down Louie Shaw’s throat on the mid-wicket boundary.
Despite a couple of sixes from Chad Trainor, Lakhani and Pollard kept the scoring rate to below four an over, when sevens were required.
It was Dan Jones who got the key wicket of Qureshi, after replacing Pollard from the road end, Brewer taking the catch to redeem his earlier blemish. Although Trainor and Tom Wand started to find the boundary, the required rate continued to rise.
Bristol’s outfielding was excellent on the whole, with several potential twos kept down to one, and some solid catching. Trainor hit a ball from Shaw high into the air in the direction of the grazing cattle in the next field but couldn’t quite reach the bovine specimens and instead Probert took a difficult catch as cool as you like. And Probert took a second skyer, this one in the cover region, to dismiss Wand off Joyner.
Frocester needed a big over if they were to stand a chance and, thanks mainly to Chris Liddle, they got one in the 45th, which went for twenty, leaving Joyner with less flattering figures than he has been accustomed to of late. This left Frocester requiring fifty off five with five wickets left, which felt possible. But the 46th over brought two wickets: Nick Trainor was unlucky to be run out backing up as Shaw deflected the ball on to the stumps, and Martin was bowled second ball. Probert then conceded just six off the 47th, despite a couple of wides, before Shaw conceded just two off the 48th and took the wicket of Callum Gegg, stumped by a mile.
So now 41 were required off two and although Liddle hit the first and fifth balls of the 49th over for six, in between Probert took Frocester’s ninth wicket – Drake caught behind. Although Liddle completed a 32-ball fifty with a six off the penultimate ball of the innings, Frocester ended 16 runs short, giving Will Rudge his first ever victory over Frocester at Pound’s Close. Young, meanwhile, heads off to Dubai on New Zealand A duty and all at Bristol CC wish him well.