Goatacre finish with a flourish (From Swindon Advertiser)

Goatacre finish with a flourish

8:10am Tuesday 6th September 2011 in Cricket By Gary Rose

ED Kilbee smashed a sensational 200 runs as Goatacre ensured their promotion-winning season ended on a high with a 189-run victory over Marshfield on Saturday.

The Glos/Wilts Division title had been sealed in the previous game but it came about in slightly disappointing fashion with Goatacre losing heavily to Swindon, with two bonus points enough to seal promotion.

Captain Craig Gibbens was determined for his side to go up on a high note and they did just that with an emphatic win over Marshfield.

“It was so important for us to finish strongly,” said Gibbens.

“I was disappointed with the way we performed at Swindon but for me Saturday showed how positively we had played cricket all season. I didn’t want to finish losing because would not.”

The game marked a personal milestone for Kilbee, who reeled off 200 runs to leave Marshfield with 341 to chase down.

It was a total that proved too much for the visitors, who were all out for 152 with Jason Searle claiming five wickets.

“This season has surpassed my expectations,” said Gibbens. “I would have been happy with staying up.

“Hopefully we will now be in a position to attract one or two new players but we don’t need six or so as we have the nucleus of a good squad.

“I reckon we can probably aim for fifth in Premier Two. It looks like that league has been a league of two halves, with top half moving away from the bottom half.

“We have are going into the league on the back of two successive promotions so we are used to winning.”

High on the list of priorities for Gibbens is preparing for next season is keeping hold of Kilbee, who is set to take up an offer to play in New Zealand over the winter.

“He has an offer to go out to New Zealand, which hopefully he will benefit from,” he said.

“I hope that he will be with us again next season because if not he will be a massive loss.

“You cannot take 860 runs out of a side.”