An excellent all round team performance (From Stroud News and Journal)

An excellent all round team performance

West of England Premier League Two

Stroud v Weston-Super-Mare

A SUPERB work ethic displayed in the field made sure that Stroud secured a memorable victory against a strong Weston side.

Captain Daniels was asked to bat on a drying surface and he opted to send in Williams to partner Pockett.

Williams then proceeded to race away to 30 off the first 6 overs with good support from Pockett who also found the boundary, but with more judicious shot selection.

So effective was Williams that Stroud posted their first 50 inside eight overs with Williiams devastating the Weston openers Donn and Quay.

Williams departure slowed the run rate but Pockett stood firm and eventually found some support from Daniels.

When Pockett fell Watts joined his captain and took Stroud to 130 for 5 with 12 over remaining.

Stroud felt that a total of 180 would be sufficient to defend in such conditions but this was not to be the case as both Daniels and Watts departed in consecutive overs.

With no wickets in hand Haines and OBrien had to settle for inching Stroud towards 160 in the last few overs with the innings falling at least 30 runs short of what should have been achieved.

However, as in previous weeks Stroud feel that they have the capability to exert pressure in the field and support their bowlers, and this was superbly demonstrated in the display during the Weston Innings.

Haines removed Pier in his second over and Williams bowled with his usual skill and enthusiasm as Weston set about scoring the runs at a moderate rate.

This casual approach was to prove their undoing as despite not taking wickets initially the introduction of Collins and Carman applied the brakes even further.

Carmen bowled superbly and was unfortunate not to take a wicket, whilst Collins made the next breakthrough by bowling McShane and shortly after having A Bail leg before.

With Haines returning and immediately removing P Bail to a good catch by Durie Weston were 130 for 4 with 10 overs to score the required 30 runs.

Weston crumbled under the pressure as Haines and Williams ripped through the lower order.

Williams secured victory for Stroud by removing Turner and Quay with consecutive balls as Weston were dismissed for 150 in the 48th over.

Collins with 3-35, Williams with 3-30 and Haines with 4-42 were the pick of the bowlers but in general it was an excellent all round team performance.