BATH 4ths 235 all-out METHODISTS 166 all-out
The Methodists’ first game of the new season was a friendly, played under sunny skies at Bath Fourths’ Brownsword ground, Lansdown.
The home side batted first, but lost an early wicket to the bowling of Thiaan Aspeling, who was guesting for the visitors against his usual Bath teammates.
Skipper, Matt Kerr, and number three, Vik Prasher, added 32 in five overs for the next wicket, before Prasher was joined by Nick Groome and the scoring rate began to climb. The pair put on 98 in 77 balls, regularly peppering the boundary, until Vik picked out Roger Howe on the line and had to depart just twelve runs short of his century.
Meths’ Captain, Stuart Green (2-18), then struck again to remove another batsman and, shortly afterwards, Groome retired with sixty runs to his name – leaving Bath on 200-for-5 with nine overs left. The Methodists’ bowlers finished well, however, and the home side were only able to add a further 35 runs – Aspeling (3-35) ending the innings with thirteen balls remaining.
The Methodists’ reply got off to a shaky start as they lost three wickets to the bowling of Ejaz Ahmed Rajpoot (3-9) inside the first seven overs. A solid stand of 59 between Mark Robinson (26) and Chilcompton Sports’ James Purchase (21) then steadied things, but both were then dismissed in quick succession by Rhys Davey (2-25).
Keeper, Dave Sackett (25), and Aspeling (35) added a further 49 for the sixth wicket but, despite some lovely shots from Howard Jones, the innings finally tailed off as the five-division gap between the sides began to tell – Jamie Kerr (2-26) and A. Alex (2-9) wrapping things up with the total on 166.
Daniel Shearn