Methodists 79 all-out Clevedon 3rd XI 135–9
The Methodists’ first league fixture of the 2019 season saw them entertaining a youthful Clevedon 3rd XI at a sunny, but very cold, Norton Hill School.
Asked to bat first, the visitors lost a couple of early wickets to the bowling of Daniel Shearn (2–19) and found that the slow pitch and lush outfield denied them many potential boundaries. At 27 for 2 in the eleventh over, B. Wilson joined Tyler Leaman in the middle, and the pair began gradually finding the rope more often. Their partnership took
Clevedon into the seventies before Kyle Sproates (2–18), on temporary loan from Norton Thirds, removed the tenacious Leaman for a well-made 41.
Wilson (34) stuck around a while longer, but wickets for Craig Eyles (2–35) and Howard Jones (2–17) kept a lid on the scoring towards the end of the innings – Clevedon eventually posting a modest but competitive 135–9 from their forty overs.
After tea, Clevedon’s bowlers also struck early on, but Jones and Eyles were then able to add 33 runs for the Methodists, until the latter became the first of Leaman’s four victims. Bowling in tandem with Jack Banks, sixteen overs of left-arm spin conceded just 21 runs and the home side had slumped to 60–6 with just thirteen overs remaining. Stuart Green briefly threatened to kick-start the hosts’ innings, but Dave Clarke (2–7) and Zak Malpas (2–9) quickly snuffed out thoughts of a revival, with the Methodists all out for 79 after 33.1 overs.
This weekend, the Methodists are away to Bradley Stoke Thirds.
Daniel Shearn