ON a gloriously sunny afternoon at the picturesque Hawkesbury Upton ground, free-scoring Fairford recorded a 67-run victory.

Readers Glos CCL Div Three

Hawkesbury Upton 247 all out

Fairford 314-5

On winning the toss, Fairford elected to bat on a superb wicket that looked to be full of runs. Chris Clayton once again set off at a pace and looked well set to record another big score before he surprisingly holed out to mid-on aiming to pull a short ball from Ollie Setterfield who was the pick of the home bowlers.

Lee Clark continued his fine recent form and when he was joined by Derek Townsend the pair really began to set about the bowling, adding 186 for the third wicket from only 21 overs.

Townsend finally fell for 113 from only 70 balls and although Clark departed in the very next over for a run-a-ball 93, any Hawkesbury hopes of slowing the onslaught were quickly dashed as Will Bowers and Craig Muir mixed lusty blows with intelligent running to add 52 in the final five overs, allowing Fairford to set a challenging total of 314-5.

Bowers finished on 45 not out from just 26 deliveries.

Chris Gardener and James Crighton began aggressively and for a few overs kept up with the run rate before both fell victim to sharp fielding.

Crighton went first, run out by a direct hit from Richard Young, before Gardener was superbly caught one-handed at square leg by the diving Clark.

Joe Salt was joined at the crease by Jeremy Westwood and while they both began accumulating runs, the rate required began to climb as Young, Muir and Colin Bullock all bowled economically.

Once Salt and Westwood had fallen, both for very well constructed 74s, the innings crumbled and Hawkesbury Upton were all out for 247.