Match Report
West Of England Premier League (Wilts Division)
Marshfield v Marlborough 11th July 2015
Marshfield 246 all out; Marlborough 224 all out
Marshfield won by 22 runs
A poor Marlborough team performance on Saturday saw the Forest outfit lose at Marshfield by 22 runs. The defeat means that Marlborough also surrendered the current lead of the WEPL Wiltshire Division to Trowbridge. Marlborough just hold on to second place over Westbury but with only 7 points separating the top 3 there is all still to play for.
Marshfield having won the toss decided to bat first on what appeared to be a very good batting track. Marlborough strike bowlers George Fox and Brad Frost kept the Marshfield openers in check with only 21 runs coming off the first 10 overs.
Marshfield continued to build on their steady start and had taken the score to 45 when Alistair Christie was bizarrely run out by Arran Dickinson.
Marlborough then looked to be in the ascendance two overs later when Will Pascal was caught by Pete Day off Fox’s bowling for 44 with the scoreboard on 74 and when Will Johnson departed in the over before drinks off Ben Head’s bowling Marlborough seemed to be in control of events.
Marshfield however after the drinks break slowly asserted themselves over the Marlborough bowlers and James Williams soon started to play some expansive shoots off a below par Marlborough bowling attack which saw Dave West and Paul Smith smashed for 89 runs off 8 overs with Williams being the chief beneficiary. Williams first with Dave Jenkins and then Jeremy Bond added 122 to the score before Williams was caught by Brad Frost for 75. Williams’ explosive innings had come from just 53 balls and included six 4’s and six 6’s with Williams being well supported by Bond scoring 40 off 34 balls.
Marlborough then rescued the situation to some degree by then bowling out Marshfield for 246 when they took the last 3 wickets for 25 runs thanks very much too some tight bowling from Mike Bush and Frost.
Marlborough got off to a steady start in reply and were up with the run rate and looking comfortable with the score on 94 for the loss of one wicket by the 20th over. George Penfold and Day had put on a partnership off 65 when Penfold was dismissed for 40 and Marlborough then seemed to lose their way slowly falling behind the run rate and adding just 34 to the score off the next 10 overs.
With scoreboard pressure Dickinson and Day then added a further 39 runs before Day perished for 48 with Dickinson following him back to the pavilion 9 balls later for 29. Marlborough then despite a 50 run partnership between Bush and Frost never really threatened the Marshfield total from that point and eventually capitulated at the end with the loss of 4 wickets for just 14 runs to end on 224, 22 runs short of victory.
Marlborough Coach Tony Dickinson said after the game that it was a very disappointing team performance and result.
“We got from the game what we probably deserved as we didn’t bowl or bat well today as a unit and no one really stood up and took responsibility when needed. We had six batsmen that got themselves in but didn’t go on to win the game for us and that on top of our poor bowling after the drinks break and some outstanding batting by James (Williams) has cost us dearly today. We will work very hard this week to put things right and I have no doubt we will be ready and will bounce back well at Devizes.”