On a sunny afternoon at Norton Hill, Grendel – visiting from Filton – chose to bat first, and got off to a solid start, with James Neville and Joss Coventry adding 38 in their opening stand.
The occasional bowling of Alex Nash (2–36) claimed the first couple of wickets for the Methodists, while his swift run-out of Neville (24) then quickly put the opposition three down. More dubious running to the athletic fielding of Roger Howe sent another man back to the pavilion, before the bowling of James Green then started to cause havoc, with the remainder of Grendel’s batting line-up. In a 6.2-over spell, he claimed 5–18 with his deceptively slow deliveries, as many batsmen couldn’t wait to take a swing at his tempting offerings. The innings were eventually wrapped up early, with the visitors posting a modest 122 all-out from only 29.2 overs faced.
Methodists’ opening batsmen, Nash and Mark Robinson, negotiated a tricky six overs before tea was taken, but the latter was removed by Khurrum Bhatt (2–24) within one over on the resumption of play. Bhatt and Leo Thom made sure the home side had to work for their runs, but by twenty overs, the chase was still well on course. A wicket for Steve Coventry eventually ended a gritty knock by Martin Woolley, with forty runs still required, but James Green fittingly saw to it that the Methodists recorded a well-deserved six-wicket win with seven overs to spare as he finished things off with three consecutive boundaries.
The Methodists are away to Bedminster Fourths this weekend.
Daniel Shearn