Survival hopes Stroud pick up crucial win to lift chances
STROUD kept alive their hopes of maintaining their hard-earned WEPL Premier Two Glos/wilts status by ending a run of four successive defeats with a 25-run triumph away to fellow strugglers Trowbridge.
Louis Gegg’s unbeaten 85 off 126 balls lifted the visitors to a total of 208-6 after winning the toss.
And James Job’s fine return of 6-32 from ten then helped Stroud leapfrog their rivals and move off the foot of the table with four rounds of games to go.
The top two of Thornbury and Chippenham both won, overcoming Dumbleton and Burbage & Easton Royal, respectively.
And third-placed Frocester stayed in the promotion hunt with an 88-run triumph away to Goatacre which featured a hat-trick for seamer Will Naish (3-31 from six).
In Premier One, Cheltenham were edged out by two wickets at Bedminster while Bristol remain in relegation strife following a five-wicket defeat away to high-flying Bath.
Runaway Gloucestershire division leaders Hatherley & Reddings dispatched Painswick by 31 runs to be within touching distance of the title and promotion.
At the other end of the table, lowly Tewkesbury made it two in a row as Rockhampton folded from 127-3 to 145 all out and a 56-run defeat, Jack Brixey claiming 6-13 from 8.1 overs.
Cirencester trumped Bourton Vale by two wickets, Adrian Mayes’ 105 helped set up Cheltenham Civil Service for a 35-run home triumph over Gloucester and Dan Cave’s burst of 6-13 saw Frocester II to a 109-run defeat of Corse & Staunton.