Ex-Somerset player Charl Willoughby made an excellent start for Weston, returning figures of 10-5-22-6.

WESTON entertained Downend on their return to Premier One and posted an impressive 36-run victory.

Losing the toss the hosts were inserted to bat on a soft wicket. Weston struggled to get going and despite a lack of scoring, Sam Trego, Andy Fear and Shabil Ahmed were able to use up some overs, but with a succession of wickets Weston found themselves at 47-4 approaching drinks.

John Williams and John Davidson steadied the ship and with Williams in good touch, Weston were able to creep their way forward. Williams hit two sixes on his way to an excellent half century and Davidson proved the perfect foil as he carefully saw out the middle overs.

Williams eventually fell to a sharp catch in the slips for an excellent innings. Chris Davidson joined his brother and immediately got going as he cracked three boundaries in an over before John edged a wide ball behind for 18.

Debutant Sam Goodhew (21 not out) continued the momentum and with help from the tail, guided Weston towards a respectable total. A huge six over extra cover and some late blows from Ash Allen enabled Weston to reach 173-9.

Downend got off to a steady start until a smart catch at second slip provided another debutant, Charl Willoughby, with his first wicket for the club. Willoughby stuck again soon after as Davidson took a catch at mid-off.

The introduction of Fear helped tie things up, with help from an assured display by Davidson behind the stunps and a wicket for Trego kept Weston close. Gloucestershire’s Ian Cockbain looked fluent as he kept Downend on top, and a couple of maximums helped Downend to 97-3 at drinks.

The reintroduction of Willoughby proved the turning point as he immediately struck, removing Cockbain lbw on the way to a spell of 4-4-0-4, ripping through the Downend middle order.

With the left-arm spin of Ash Allen causing the batsman problems, it was not long before he made an impact as he contributed figures of 2-14 from eight overs.

It was fittingly left to off-spinner Goodhew to wrap up the Downend innings for 137 and take Weston to a hard-fought victory.

The IntouchCRM man of the match went to Charl Willoughby for his match figures of 10-5-22-6.

On Saturday, Weston travel to Frocester and will be looking for another battling display.