Old Bristolians Westbury Thirds 182–8 v Methodists 79 all out

A cold, grey afternoon found the Methodists travelling to Failand to play Old Bristolians Westbury Thirds.

Choosing to bat first, the hosts suffered an early loss but then got the scoreboard moving – Jon Sheeran and Mark Beach ticking things over and adding 49 runs for the second wicket. Sheeran (20) then fell to the spin of Craig Eyles and Beach (31) to the tidy bowling of Richard Turner (2–13), before Richard Simpson (32) then added some valuable runs. Some strong late-order hitting from Ollie Harris (27*) and Mark Fulham (26) finally boosted OBW’s score to a competitive 182 for 8.

After tea, despite some valiant batting from the Methodists’ line-up, it was clear that OBW’s bowling was just too good for their opponents. Ollie Harris and Archie Joslin gave little away for the first four overs and then blew away three batsmen in just thirteen balls.

Now 20–3, this virtually stopped the Methodists’ innings dead in its tracks, and when Harris (1–14) and Joslin (2–6) were replaced by Mike Fulham (1–18) and Michael Jones (1–9), it was more of the same for the visitors’ batsmen as they attempted to survive against a superior attack.

Mark Robinson (22), Craig Eyles (15) and Dave Sackett (13) latterly put up some spirited resistance, but Anirudh Gundimeda (2–14) and Richard Miller (2–9) finished off the job as the Methodists were bundled out for just 79 in only 27.2 overs – the home team’s bowling attack a class above what the Norton side were used to facing.

Next game: Methodists play Winterbourne Fourths at home on Saturday.

Daniel Shearn