MIDSOMER NORTON METHODISTS 207-7 BEDMINSTER 4ths 226-7
Batting first on a green Withies Lane pitch, Bedminster were slowed by an early wicket, but Darren Shean and Oscar Sullivan soon got the scoreboard ticking over, adding 45 runs before Shean became James Sackett’s (2-55) second victim.
New batsman, Ben Cole, helped put on fifty runs in just six overs as he and Sullivan peppered the boundary, but spinner, Craig Eyles, then took revenge as Cole (39) was neatly bowled with the score on 104-3.
Sullivan (44) was caught behind soon after, bringing Safian Butt (29) and Jake Smith together in the middle – the pair maintaining the high tempo and adding a further fifty-plus runs before James Green’s direct hit ended Butt’s stay. Smith (44) batted well with his skipper, Andy Sheldrake (26*), until the final over, when Meth’s Captain, Stuart Green, took a return catch, but the visitors had amassed a very useful 226-7 by that stage.
After tea, the Methodists made a steady start – Martin Woolley and Alex Nash adding a measured 76 runs in twenty overs before Woolley (38) was eventually bowled by Simon Hall. The loss of another couple of quick wickets hampered progress for the batting side, but Eyles and Nash (44) put on a quick thirty runs and looked to be in control.
Crucially, though, both of their wickets fell in Butt’s (2-42) second over, shifting momentum to the visitors again, before an injured Stuart Green made a valiant attempt to knock off the 88 runs still required from the final ten overs. He came mighty close, but tidy bowling from Sullivan and Jones meant the Methodists came up just short – the skipper unbeaten on 52 as Bedminster clinched a narrow nineteen-run victory.
Many thanks to Midsomer Norton Cricket Club for the loan of their ground for the afternoon – the Methodists will be at home to Frampton Cotterell Seconds this week.
Daniel Shearn