A very pleasant spring afternoon saw the Methodists playing host to Keynsham Thirds and asking them to bat first on a very soft Norton Hill wicket. Many thanks again to Phil Mortimer for coming to cut the strip at a moment’s notice!
Openers, Pete and Scott Tweedie, made a circumspect start and appeared to be settling in when, in the sixth over, James Sackett (2-28) found a way through. Having removed Pete, he was then fortunate to pick up Scott in his next over when he nailed a shorter ball straight at square leg.
Fortunately for the visitors, however, ‘keeper Jon Baker was discovering a rich vein of form, timing the ball beautifully, and he remained at the crease while the other batsmen struggled with the slow pitch and the wickets continued to fall. In fact, the second-highest scorer for Keynsham was number nine, Dudley Bartlett, with thirteen not-out, who was there when Baker was eventually run out by an Alex Nash’ direct hit, having batted magnificently and just brought up a well-deserved maiden century.
After tea, chasing 194 to win, the Methodists’ batsmen also struggled with the bowler-friendly surface. An initial burst from Sam Lowe removed three of the top four players inside the first nine overs, and only David Baker (twenty) was able to hang around for any length of time. He and Meths’ skipper, Stuart Green, added thirty runs for the fifth wicket, but when the captain was finally dismissed this prompted a slump from 50-4 to 59 all out in six overs, as Lowe (5-13) returned to wrap things up and seal a 134-run win for the away team.
Daniel Shearn