CORSHAM claimed a rare tie in their WEPL Premier Two Glos/Wilts opener at home to Trowbridge as both sides scored 168.

After Trowbridge won the toss and asked the home side to bat, Tom Smith and Sam Collier (both 36) led the way for Corsham before they were all out in the 43rd over.

Jonathan Parker (4-51) and Smith (3-27) then had Trowbridge on the ropes with the ball, with no visiting batsman passing 30 as they were on the ropes at 130-9.

However, Corsham could not get the final wicket they needed as George Reed and Brad Angell dug in and hauled Trowbridge level with their hosts’ score by the time the last over was concluded.

Corsham skipper Tom Foley said: “From where we were at tea, I would have settled for the tie, but then getting so close to winning, it is a disappointing not to finish the job.

“Fair play to the Trowbridge tail-enders, though. They batted bravely and made sure they were still there at the end.

“We got off to a good start with the bat, but then lost a couple of cheap wickets. I thought we should have had a score of more than 200.

“We bowled really well too and John did a great job to get the wickets he did. It’s just a shame he couldn’t get that last one, but that’s cricket.”

“It was an exciting start to the season and we’re looking forward to the rest of the games now.”

Elsewhere, Tyrone Isitt’s half-century was in vain for Biddestone as they fell to a four-wicket defeat away at Cheltenham.

The hosts won the toss and asked Biddestone to bat first and they were all out for 151 in 42.4 overs.

Isitt top scored with 57, supported by Andy Flynn (27) and Aled Evans (24), while there were three wickets apiece for Liam Walker and Luke Sellers.

Cheltenham were made to work hard in their chase of a relatively modest total but did get over the line in the 45th over, finishing on 154-6.

Naeem Khan (3-22) led the charge with the ball for Biddestone as Josh Breed’s unbeaten 45 was the best score by a home batsman.

Burbage & Easton Royal came up short in their run chase at Thornbury as they were beaten by 58 runs.

Dan Davis (88), Daniel Lezar (79 no) and Kyp Bridgen (64) helped Thornbury post 286-5 off their 50 overs as Burbage’s Tom Wallbridge picked up three wickets.

Craig Simmons (67), Duncan Lorrain (57) and David Cope (40) all made decent contributions in the visitors’ reply but it was not enough as they were dismissed for 228, as Harry Wormwell led the Thornbury attack with 3-50.