Hatherley and Reddings CC hosted the County Sides first league fixture of their 2004 campaign last Thursday and they provided a shirt front of a wicket and a fast outfield which were always going to help batsmen throughout the game. Gloucestershire, fielding first after losing the toss, were up against it early on as Hall and Cauhce put together a threatening opening stand of 74 inside 16 overs. The introduction of the swing bowling of Dave Gorrick (from Hatherley) and accuracy of Norbury began to slow the rate and nibble away at the opposition. Hall went for 34 and although Cauhce made a solid 53 he had some luck along the way. Gloucestershire had cause for a double celebration when Cauhce was finally out and a sharp slip catch by Thorn removed the dangerous Garner.

From then on wickets began to fall steadily mainly due to the excellence of debutant Dave Collinson (from Gloucester City) - a reluctant stand in wicket keeper - who had a hand in 4 wickets in a row including two smart stumpings. Despite their strong start Oxfordshire were disappointed to go in at tea with only 227 on the board and they were indebted to Bates who made a patient 65 in 18 overs. Gorrick 1 for 30, Norbury 2 for 31 and Daniels 1 for 32 were the pick of the bowlers.

Gloucestershire began steadily and despite losing Daniels for 15 never really got on top of some accurate bowling from Spindler and Digby until the fall of Collinson for a crafted 38. This brought to-gether John Evans (Frocester) and Howard Johnson (Gloucester) and they put on 113 which spanned no fewer than 15 overs the last. These two adopted different approaches to their innings with the ever reliable Evans content to work the ball around and the aggressive Johnson driving and pulling when opportunities arose. Johnson’s innings ended through an unfortunate run out but it was capped by a scintillating pull for 6 over mid wicket into the Hatherley car park! Evans, 79 not out, was in total control and he shepherded the middle order home with 9 balls to spare.

Although some of the Oxfordshire bowling was economical, it never really threatened sufficiently and this win for Gloucestershire - their third in the last four meetings of these two sides - sends them to Frocester next Wednesday (where they meet Staffordshire) in high spirits.

(Dave Collinson)