COLWALL secured an early season win in the League Development Cup on Sunday with a 26 run victory over Tewkesbury.

COLWALL V TEWKESBURY

On a blustery afternoon at Stowe Lane, Colwall took to the crease first with Luke McQueen and Tom Wolfendale setting up an opening 32 run stand. Both, however, fell in quick succession before Tim Riley put Colwall back on track with a sturdy 55 in 64 balls.

His partnership of 69 with Andy Sutton was the backbone of the home side's innings which then proceeded to collapse inside seven overs. Australian Santalucia's impressive off spin (6-18 off 7 overs) tore through Colwall's order and it needed a late surge of 33 between Steve Ferguson (23no) and Dave Sutton to rescue Colwall to a respectable total of 164-9 in their 40 overs.

Charlie Daffern gave Colwall the perfect start in Tewkesbury's reply collecting three wickets in his five over spell, his third the capture of Bates after a well taken catch at mid-on by Matt Berry. He was well supported by Damien Berry (1-15 off 9) as the visitors struggled at 26-4.

Allcoat offered stiff resistance from then on as he and Santalucia (29) revived the innings. The introduction of Dave Sutton and James Wagstaff proved crucial, however, as the pair stole three wickets apiece to halt Tewkesbury's run rate.

Allcoat's excellent boundary shots in a well timed 70 threatened to turn the game but lack of support from the tail meant Colwall bowled through the bottom order to collect a 26 run win.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Colwall travel to Wootton Bassett for the first league encounter of the season.