The Methodists’ final league game of the season saw them journeying to the picturesque village of Grittleton in Wiltshire to play their hosts, Winterbourne Fourths.
The ‘home’ team asked the Methodists to bat first on a soft wicket and the opening pairing of Jason Stotesbury and Alex Nash started well, absorbing early pressure from bowlers, Dan Vickery and James Labuschagne, before picking up the scoring rate.
Each found the boundary regularly and by the drinks break, had added a very handy 99 runs in twenty overs – but the balance of the match was about to shift dramatically! Nash (37) was the first wicket to fall, three balls after the interval, with a second going down before the score finally passed the hundred-mark.
Stotesbury and the big-hitting James Green (20) got the total moving again, but eventually, with 137 on the board, the former was dismissed for 64. Another two wickets then quickly fell on the same score, before tight bowling from Brian Cook (4–16) and some disastrous running saw this mini-collapse become a full-blown Methodist meltdown – the side managed to survive their forty overs, posting 146–9, but lost seven wickets for nine runs in the last nine overs!
After tea, Winterbourne progressed relatively serenely towards their target; batsmen, Del Comley and Nick Shine picking off any bad balls and dispatching them to the boundary with regularity. They built a stand of 128 in 27 overs before Shine (74) skyed a top-edge off James Green (1–23) to give the Methodists a consolation wicket. Comley (58*) and Alex Heath then wrapped up a comprehensive nine-wicket victory with 7.5 overs to spare, ending what had turned out to be a strangely one-sided game.
Next Saturday, 9th September will see the Jim Eyles’ Invitational XI versus the Methodists CC held at Midsomer Norton Cricket Club. Play starts at 1.30 p.m., with tea served around 3.45 p.m. – 4 p.m., and everybody is welcome to come along and enjoy the afternoon.
Daniel Shearn