BOURTON Vale suffered an agonising single-run defeat to Gloucester at the weekend in a thrilling contest in the WEPL Gloucestershire.

Hosts Gloucester won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Jack Whiting (26) and Tom Collinson (18) made a good start and put on 44 for the first wicket before Bourton took seven wickets for just 100 runs to leave the home side 141-7.

The visitors were on top but a brilliant eighth-wicket stand between Thom Wilshaw (47 not-out) and Scott Davies (40) provided what proved to be a vital knock.

Despite chasing 245, Bourton made a terrific start to their innings and a huge century from opener James Vlaeminck (107 runs off 86 balls) formed what should have been a decisive 158-run first-wicket stand with Charlie Garratt (47).

But once Vlaeminck was dismissed, the wickets fell at regular intervals as Gloucester began their sensational comeback. Tom Morris, Scott Davies, Thom Wilshaw and Tristan Maree all took two wickets each as Bourton collapsed to 244-9, needing two runs to win.

Nawaz Mucadam had three overs in which to try and find the winning runs but he could not manage it as he was bowled by Davies and Gloucester won in the most dramatic fashion.

Elsewhere, Shiptson-on-Stour lost their first game of the season on Saturday as they went down by six wickets at home to Kineton in the Cotswold Hills League Premier Division. 

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat but only Jack Murphy provided a substantial score, producing five 4s and a 6 on his way to 49. But he was denied a half-century by Will Mahoney.

The wickets fell at regular intervals and only Marcus Ireland (15) and opener Ryan Worthington (16) hit double figures before a tenth-wicket stand between Jonty Harvey (18) and David Payne (10) added some potentially valuable runs to the score. 

But they were bowled out for a below-par 153 and Kineton made light work of it in the end. 

Half-centuries from George Wilcock (54) and Rory Geary-Heaton (54) did the majority of the damage as Kineton reached their target in the 32nd over having lost just four wickets.