FROCESTER kept the pressure on Premier One leaders Bath with a hard-fought 35 run win at Downend on Saturday, writes Eric Woodmason.

Batting first, Frocester were soon in trouble and slumped to 67-5, with three batsmen falling to catches behind the wicket.

However, captain Nick Trainor and Paul Muchall re-built the innings with a 110 run partnership that lifted the total to 177-5.

Trainor was at his imperious best with an innings of 89, which included 10 fours and five sixes, accelerating in his usual style late in the innings.

It was good to see Muchall scoring runs, falling two short of a half century.

Mike Lewis (18 not out) gave Trainor useful support in the final overs as Frocester reached a total of 226 for six in 46 overs.

Downend are a tough team to beat nowadays and their batsmen started fluently against the opening attack of Morris and Dunning.

The openers added 50 in 10 overs and with Craig Miles scoring 43, the home team were well placed at 120-3.

However, Richie Cave took 3-36 in an excellent eight over spell and with Paul Muchall adopting a different role, arriving fresh to attack the tail, he knocked over four batsmen to take 4-28 as Downend crumbled to 191 all out.