WEPL Premier 1
Bridgwater 164-5 (revised target) beat Frocester 166 by 5 wkts

ALFONSO Thomas picked up his second five-fer in as many matches to help Bridgwater defeat Frocester on Saturday.

The former Somerset seamer followed up his 5-33 in the win at Corsham a fortnight ago with 6-32 from 10 overs as the home side had no answer to the 40-year-old.

Having lost the toss and been asked to bowl, Bridgwater made the perfect start as Will Williams had Ross Martin caught by Chris Gange for a duck with the third ball of the innings.

Uzi Qureshi (26) and Louis Gegg (29) steadied the ship, but Thomas removed both and then dismissed Nick Trainor and Callum Gegg, both without scoring, to leave the hosts reeling on 67-5.

Chris Singleton (2-16) then got in on the act, clean bowling Tom Wand on 26 and seeing Sam Birch caught by Merv Hallaran as the score made its way to 120-7.

Frocester’s tail wagged, but Thomas completed his five-wicket haul by bowling Ashley Davis (7), and the paceman repeated the trick soon afterwards to send Vimukthi Perera on his way for 25.

Chris Skidmore took the final wicket as Frocester were bowled out for 166, a target which was to become 164 from 48 overs as a result of a brief rain delay.

As Frocester had done earlier in the day, Bridgwater lost an opener for a duck as captain Merv Hallaran went early, but Chris Gange teamed up with George Bartlett to take the score to 70 before the former fell for 24.

Bartlett looked well set for his second consecutive half century, but fell two short of the milestone as he was trapped in front by Trainor with his side on 100-4.

That became 125-5 when Jonathan Vickery fell, but Stuart Butt came to the fore and hit six 4s and two 6s on his way to 54 not out to help Bridgwater over the line alongside Thomas, who added an unbeaten 18 to his earlier six wickets.

The 19 points collected from the victory kept Bridgwater in fourth place, three points behind third-placed Downend, ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Bristol.