Twyford House ‘A’ 138-9 Midsomer Norton Methodists 106-7: A showery Combe Dingle in Bristol saw Twyford House entertaining the Methodists, in what may effectively have been the third-place play-off in BDCA Division 11.

After some - by now unsurprising - early Saturday afternoon rain delayed the start, the home side batted first and found the opening bowlers, Daniel Shearn and Paul Evans, hard to get away - scoring only 26 runs from the initial sixteen overs. It was only after the drinks break that the home batters finally began to loosen their shackles.

Rob Welch (46) was the main run-scorer early on, as first-change bowlers Mark Robinson (3-36) and Craig Eyles (3-30) found ways to remove the hosts’ top-order in staccato bursts - wickets on 35 and 37, 68 and 72 and 89 and 90 runs respectively hampering Twyford’s progress. Some late runs from Ash Pooley (38) helped boost their total, but a brace of Alex Nash ‘caught-and-bowleds’ kept the final score down to an average 138-9.

After the tea break - more rain - the Methodists made a reasonable start, but the tidy bowling of Si Preece then claimed the much-prized wicket of the in-form Nash for just 14. Runs from Martin Woolley (15) and Stuart Green (18) kept the scoreboard ticking over, but the consistently accurate bowling of Pooley, Tom Harvey and James Browne - backed up by excellent fielding - made sure the visitors never got the upper hand. And, while some erratic behaviour from the damp pitch saw a couple of batsmen blamelessly skittled out, Twyford deserved the plaudits for their on-the-spot bowling. Mark Robinson (30*) held the Methodists’ innings together and shepherded the score into three-figures, but the home side deserved their victory.

Daniel Shearn