Post date: May 23, 2017 9:52:39 AM
BCC 1sts had a tough day at the office when they hosted table-topping Ashburton. After winning the toss and inserting the visitors on a wet pitch, BCC were perhaps a tad complacent. T Durnam (111) struck the ball extremely well, and punished anything short. Despite some accurate bowling, uncharacteristically, several chances went down in a frustrating day in the field. After Durman finally departed, wickets tumbled as Ashburton collapsed from 179-4 to 189-8 from their 45 overs. Ryan Dennis (2-32), Tom Fogerty (2-35) and Gary Sizmur (2-36) all picked up a couple of wickets but pick of the bowlers was probably Chris Lavis (1-20) who was again excellent with the new ball. After Durman, no one made more than opener Causey's 16.
The BCC chase didn't go at all to plan. Brandon Horn was promoted to open to up the run rate, but he smashed one stright to backward point before he opened his account. When Gary Sizmur (18) was out thanks to an excellent catch at cover, the BCC innings fell apart. Tom Fogerty (45no) watched in disbelief at the other end as batsmen gifted their wickets. Credit must be given to Ashburton, who fielded excellently and held on to some very tough chances. Dom Durman picked up 5-18, all of which were caught, and Marcus West bowled accurately for his 3-22. Tom slapped some boundaries towards the end to at least salvage the same points as for a rain off, in what was a very poor BCC batting performance. We go again next week, looking to improve significantly away at Kingsbridge.