Hurstbourne Priors v Amesbury.

Hurstbourne Priors’ first outing of the season ended in defeat at the hands of Amesbury.

Priors were put into bat on a good looking track but were soon in trouble when veteran Steve Cady was snaffled in the slips off paceman Dobson. Ashok Nautiyal (32) and Richard Carter (31) steadied things for Priors as Nautiyal in particular punished all the loose stuff especially off Gurung.

Amesbury strangled the run rate and despite Priors’ batsman getting starts no one seemed to be able to get the upper hand. Ady Budd (23) played positively until he fell to Gurung then Jonathan Hopkinson (17) hit a couple of majestic shots to ensure Priors reached 166-8.

Amesbury’s response to the chase was super positive with both openers hitting regular boundaries. Manie Gurung (36) and Sam Dando (31) took both Priors openers smashing 44 in the first five overs.

With Priors on the back foot Rajiv Kumar (3-26) was introduced into the attack and removed both openers but Amesbury continued to play positively and with Priors unable to stem the flow of runs, Amesbury reached 169-5 off 28 overs.