IN THEIR final league match of the season, Ledbury First XI travelled to Burghill to play the divisional champions.
Burghill, having already deservedly won the league, hosted at a stunning venue to play the last game and the weather was perfect for a good day of cricket.
As is normally the case with matches taking place in September, availability for selection is difficult and Ledbury was no exception to this.
Nevertheless, Ledbury’s ragtag First XI put in a memorable performance to cap off a very promising year for the club
With club captain Josh Evans still injured with a broken ankle, stand in captain Tom Bowring won the toss and chose to bowl first on a pitch that looked favourable for early wickets.
Opening bowler Jack Trattell bowled with his usual accuracy, and ended his excellent season very well with just 24 runs coming from his 9 overs.
The other opening bowler, was the welcome return of Arthur Harris.
Captain Bowring asked Harris to open the bowling with Trattell and it turned out to be a clinical move with Harris taking 2 vital wickets for 30 runs from his 9 overs.
Another bowler to resurrect their form was Sam Wilcox, in also taking 2 vitally important Burghill wickets from his 6 overs.
Mike Darley, a 2nd team stalwart and promoted to the 1st team this week, also did a great job in tying together the middle overs, and took 1 wicket for just 13 runs from his 4 overs.
Off spinner Richard Orders bowled well at some attacking lower order Burghill batting, and was rewarded by taking the final wicket of the innings.
The pick of the bowlers was, once again, Chaz Barber, who bowled superbly well during his 8 overs, taking another 4 wickets for 28 runs.
Barber’s incredible second half of the season has propelled him to the top of the Ledbury wicket takers for the 2024 season.
Eventually Burghill were bowled out for 215 runs in the 43 over and this was an exceptional bowling and fielding performance from an assorted Ledbury 1st team.
In return, the Ledbury batsmen began their innings erratically.
Richard Orders opened the batting with Jack Trattell.
Orders was caught at mid-off for 5, before the clubs leading run scorer Tom Bowring inexplicably ran himself out for 9.
Trattell batted well throughout the loss of 2 quick wickets before being bowled by a stunning delivery for 30.
Jamie Turner counter punched well, with a quickfire 18 runs and returning middle order batsman, Ben Clifford chipping in with a handy 14.
But the match was won by an absolutely superb innings from Nick Gibbons. Coming to the crease as number 4 batsmen with the score precariously on 59-2, Gibbons played a faultless innings with some clever and powerful hitting.
He finished the match on 85 not out and deservedly won the man of the match award with Ledbury completing the target in the 37th over, and winning the game by 4 wickets.
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