Midsomer Norton's up and down season continued as they slipped to defeat at Bishopston last weekend.
Unsurprisingly inserted on a damp pitch, Norton got off to a flying start as Nick Pang, promoted to open the innings, struck some early boundaries and looked very fluent, racing to 22 before Ryan Adams found his edge with a good delivery. Lear soon followed and when both Mosena and Clifton fell to catches in the circle, Norton's flying start was in tatters. Fortunately, they had arguably the league's best batsman to call on, as Martin Cox once again made hay where others had struggled. Joined by his non-related namesake, Nick Cox, who offered a typically obdurate and gritty effort, they set about rebuilding the innings. Martin soon passed yet another fifty, before Nick fell after looking to press on. Potter and Hampshire both fell, but not without bringing up the 200 and Cox drew the biggest cheer of the day, as he brought up a second consecutive unbeaten hundred, this one even more impressive than the previous one on a pitch that was not the easiest to bat on.
Knowing early wickets would be key, Norton did not get off to an ideal start and they struggled to control the run rate early on. Mosena made the breakthrough, but Wenham and O'Brien continued unabated. Nick Cox backed up his earlier impressive batting effort and dragged Norton back into the game, snaring two wickets and arguably deserving more in an impressive spell of accurate leg spin bowling. The danger man would always be Coombes and he proved such, striking the ball powerfully at every opportunity. He had some good fortune, surviving two tough chances that weren't held, but he always kept Bishopston in front of the run rate. Mosena returned to take another wicket and when Coombes picked out long off, Norton glimpsed an opening. Booth and Taverner took Bishopston to the brink, however, with little further alarm before Booth was undone. Hancock and Taverner had no issues completing the run chase, leaving Norton to rue some missed chances and accepting that the toss had a fairly significant impact on the outcome.
This Saturday, the First XI return home to face runaway leaders, Bedminster, hoping to keep their top four push alive and add some intrigue and interest to the title chase. The Second XI travel to Claverham, while the Third XI have a home fixture against Whitchurch. Purnell are the visitors for Sunday's Second Team fixture.