McShane shines for Frocester (From Stroud News and Journal)

McShane shines for Frocester

Frocester 1st X1 v Ilminster 1st X1

IT was a tense, exciting match at Pounds Close on Saturday, but Frocester just lost out by two wickets, with Ilminster edging home off the last ball of the penultimate over. This was high quality entertainment, with top class cricket played from start to finish.

Nick Trainor won the toss and batted on a wicket that looked full of runs, but once the hardness of the new ball had worn off, runs were hard to come by.

Ilminster set a defensive field and their bowlers bowled a tight, off stump line, although Trainor and Whincup were quickly into their stride, with 24 runs coming from the first six overs.

However, Trainor was then bowled by Smith for 13 and Tony Clarkson joined Whincup in a partnership of 29 in 10 overs, before Clarkson was dismissed for 11.

Mark McShane then played his best innings for Frocester, holding the innings together, especially after Whincup fell for 36. McShane received little support from the lower middle order, with only Beetge (12) reaching double figures.

Once McShane was bowled for 46, the tail collapsed with the last 4 wickets falling for only 20 runs as Frocester reached a total of 139-10, all out in the final over.

The Ilminster openers batted carefully against the pace of Beetge and McShane, but were not in any great difficulty as the total reached 24 in the 11th over.

The introduction of Pritchard into the attack brought a dramatic change as the left armer captured 3 wickets and Beetge and McShane also picked up a wicket each. At this point, in the 20th over, Ilminster were reeling at 50-5, but skipper Craig Rice then came to the crease and batted very sensibly, holding the innings together.

The tension mounted as Ilminster closed in on their target: from 94-6 in the 36th over, they crept to 109 for 6 in the 41st over. Neil Easto then captured 2 wickets as the match was in the balance at 116 for 8 in the 43rd over. However, Rice (38 no) and Elswood (16 no) held their nerve to take the visitors to victory.

Afterwards, Nick Trainor said: "It was a great game of cricket, which we could have won. A couple of things didn't go our way, but that's cricket. It was a very enjoyable game and I think we can improve another 10 per cent which will enable us to win the tight games like this" Frocester D. Whincup st Spurway b Dalwood........36 N. Trainor b Smith..................................13 A. Clarkson c Hurford b Dalwood...........11 M. McShane b Rideout...........................46 A.Davis c Spurway b Elswood..................1 J. Niblett LBW Smith............................... 5 C. Partridge LBW Dalwood..................... 0 C. Beetge c Smith b Knight.................... 12 S. Evans LBW Knight.............................. 1 N. Easto st Spurway b Knight..................2 C. Pritchard not out ..................................1 Ex 11 Total 139-10 P. Smith 12-1-46-2 R. Elswood 15-4-31-1 J. Dalwood 15-3-26-3 P. Rideout 4-0-17-1 M. Knight 3.2-0-13-3.

Ilminster P Rideout b Pritchard...............................8 R. Burt c Easto b Pritchard......................15 M. Knight b Pritchard.................................3 B. Horner c Davis b Beetge.....................12 J. Dalwood b McShane............................11 C. Rice not out.........................................38 S. Hurford LBW Easto.............................13 S. Parris C McShane b Easto...................2 R. Elswood not out..................................16 Ex 9 Total 140-8 C. Beetge 13.5-3-32-1 M. McSahne 8-1-23-1 C. Pritchard 11-2-36-3 N. Trainor 9-1-23-1 N. Easto 7-1-19-2.