LECHLADE were left to rue a poor batting display at Gloucester City Winget as they fell to a 33-run defeat.

The Spa ground in Gloucester is normally one where sides can pile on the runs and when Freddie Martin’s side bowled the hosts out for 215, the signs were looking good.

However, the Manor Ground outfit struggled to build up any meaningful partnerships and saw their innings ended in the 43rd over with them on 182.

“I think that it was a good toss to win. It was a good wicket and I thought that we bowled pretty well to get them out for 215,” Martin said.

“It is a quick scoring ground and I think that above 250 is par, so I think that we did pretty well with the ball.

“Tom Barnes picked up three wickets and Jock Jamieson-Brown bowled 10 overs nice and tight, and that really got us into a strong position at the halfway stage.

“We were missing our wicketkeeper, George Penfold, so that meant that Brad (Dial) came in at four instead of three so that he could get a bit more of a rest.

“But to be honest, I don’t think that really had too much of an affect.

“The wicket was a good batting one, like I said 250 is probably par there. It was strange that neither of the batting units could cash in.

“I thought that we should have done better with the bat when we were chasing. All of the top five got themselves in but didn’t push on.

“There were a couple of loose shots, but there were also a couple of good balls.”

Gloucester made a steady start to their innings, with opener Sizwe Masondo and Richard Howell contributing 50 runs between them before Barnes and Jamieson-Brown sent them back to the pavilion.

Jack Cowles was the cornerstone of the host’s innings with 80, but Barnes (3-29), Liam Smith (2-49) and Tom Young (2-35) gave Lechlade a good platform.

However, the visitors’ were again thwarted by Cowles as he picked up 4-31 with Dial Lechlade’s leading run-scorer again with 54.