Archived Match Report

First XI vs. Stourbridge Social - 23 Jul - Running out of different headlines...

On arriving at Stourbridge Social on saturday, there was a feeling about it could be an interesting afternoon after the hosts decided to controversially claim the toss and put Frome into bat on a slow track.

P. Andrews and J. Fortnam got off to a flying start with Andrews is particular hitting boundaries for fun including 4 6's within the first 10 overs taking Frome to a very good 69 off 11 overs. Andrews (38) fell after failing to pick up the ball off a low full toss and chipping back to mid off. After this dismissal no one could stick with Fortnam who battled very well to score a fine 75 but the middle order faltered, this was down to some good bowling from the Stourbridge Social lineup and to some of the Frome batsman getting themselves out with Morgan (12) being the only other person to get above double figures. Canon Frome were all out for 160 when a higher score seemed likely at points throughout the innings.

Knowing that we'd have to bowl superbly to defend a low total on a small(ish) boundary, K. Smith and M. Morgan opened the bowling brilliantly with the new ball. Morgan bowled with pace and movement and the Stourbridge batsman couldn't seem to play him leading to 2 wickets! Smith bowled well from the other end with good lines and also managed to pick up 2 wickets early. At this point, Frome were very much in the game but some brilliant hitting from the Stourbridge middle order proved Frome were a bit too short on runs to ever really have a chance of defending the total. Backhouse was able to pick up 2 wickets in 2 balls when the score was level as Stourbridge looked to end the match in style (Backhouse bowled a wide on his hattrick ball to give them the victory)