PCA Masters v Gloucestershire Academy
Click here for the scorecard from this game.
Before the Sodexo sponsored PCA Masters took on Gloucestershire Academy, the players were on hand to offer expert advice, conducting a community coaching session with a mixture of the Thornbury CC Colts squads. Gloucestershire CCC and the PCA would like to thank Sodexo for their sponsorship of junior cricket, through the PCA Masters.
This match (played under Pro40 regulations) was superbly hosted by Thornbury Cricket Club on an extremely windy but sunny Sunday afternoon. Masters skipper, former Gloucestershire favourite Mark Alleyne, lost the toss and was invited to bat first.
An outstanding opening spell from Academy opening bowler David Payne made dramatic inroads into the Masters batting line up. Payne took the wickets of Martin McCague, Carl Crowe and captain Alleyne to leave the visitors on 39-3 after 11 overs, finishing with figures of 3 for 38 from his 8 overs. Ismail Dawood and Dean Headley stabilised the innings before the Academy's other outstanding bowler, Sam Pollinger was brought into the attack. He secured figures of 3 for 18 from only four overs, leaving the Masters teetering on a total of 78-6 at the innings' half way point.
Essex veteran Paul Prichard came to the rescue, who compiling a fluent 74 from 71 deliveries including 8 fours and 3 sixes. He was ably supported by Martin Gerrard who ended on 25 not out from 37 balls, as the innings closed on 210 for nine from their 40 overs.
The Academy XI began extremely positively with a stand of 66 between James Campbell (42) and Hamza Taj (36) against the Masters opening attack of former England Test stars Devon Malcolm and Joey Benjamin. The youngsters continued to progress well and were dominating at the halfway point on 83 for three. Further batting was support was provided by Masoor Khan (37) and Payne (30) but Alleyne played his trump card in the 23rd over of the innings by introducing former England off-spinner Peter Such into the attack.
Such bowled an attacking line and was rewarded with figures of 3 for 48 from his eight overs. These crucial wickets, allied to run outs by Prichard and Crowe, pegged the Academy XI back leaving them requiring 50 runs from the last five overs. They could not quite achieve this and ended their innings on 202 for 9 from their 40 overs, just nine short of victory.
The PCA Masters, sponsored by Sodexo, would like to thank Thornbury CC and Gloucestershire County Club for hosting this well-supported event. The Academy players acquitted themselves extremely well and the PCA Masters hope that they found the challenge of facing former international and county players an opportunity to measure their skills and progress. The PCA wishes them all the best for the remainder of the season and their cricketing careers.
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