MIDDLEZOY won the battle for second place in the Somerset League's Premier Division by five wickets on Saturday.

Both chasing unbeaten leaders Cheddar, the win was vital for each to keep in touch.

Batting first, Minehead were all out for 209 with B. Taylor hitting 71 and A. Harrison 56.

J. Dillow and Nick Barnard were the pick of Middlezoy's bowlers, taking three wickets apiece.

In reply, Middlezoy made it home with relative ease, G. Musgrave leading the way with an unbeaten 62 and M. Troman making 45.

Taunton Deane 2nds fell three short of Winscombe's 195 all out as the overs ran out.

T. Burgess (3-26) and H. Mellor 4-12) restricted Winscombe to 195 all out but, after H. Smith (57) and S. Loud (62) put the Deane in a winning position, the rest of the batting fell away.

Ashbrittle beat bottom club Bagborough by 23 runs with D. Quick's unbeaten 87 making the difference.

Batting first, Ashbrittle made 194-5 with Quick providing the backbone of the innings.

Bagborough's reply was motoring along with J. Bishop (54) and L. Scutt (41) at the crease but they just fell short as B. Franks and A. Hill took three wickets apiece and G. Dawes cleared up the last two.

In Division 2, both Kilmington & Stourton v Taunton St Andrew's 2nds and Shapwick & Polden 2nds v Barrington were rained off.

Leaders Long Sutton coasted to an eight-wicket win against bottom club Lympsham in Division 3.

Lympsham could only reach 125-8, despite Dave Luff's best efforts with a 58., as J. Cook took 3-18 off nine overs.

Sutton's reply saw both openers hitting 40-plus and the match was virtually over.

Burnham maintained their chase with an equally impressive victory over Huish & Langport, who were all out for 61.

P. Harris was the main destroyer, taking 5-8 off nine, while W. Dyson took 3-13 and Mike Green 2-13.

Ilminster 2nds had D. Vining in form as his 62 saw them to a six-wicket victory over North Newton.

Batting first, Newton hit 180-6, with J. Stone hitting 48. L. Knight and Vining took two wickets apiece before Vining and A. Sims (43) made sure of the victory.

Castle Cary hit 177-8 to come out winners by 97 as they played fellow Division 4 strugglers Curry Rivel.

P. Tilley took 4-40 for Curry Rivel to restrict Castle Cary, but only M. Tilley (27) offered any resistance as M. King took 4-25 and they were all out for 80.

Leaders Frome 2nds made light work of South Petherton's 126, which included a fine 64 from A. Young.

Frome reached their target with four wickets remaining.

Broadway & Horton kept in the chase with a seven-wicket win over Wembdon 2nds, who were all out for 125.

A late order revival from T. Bennett (26) and D. Buller (13) saw Wembdon past the 100-mark with I. Hosken taking 3-23.

But R. Hilton's unbeaten 53 and W. Larkman's 46 ensured an easy win.

The top clash in Division 5 was at Trull where they took on Huntspill & District and it was the home side who raced to victory by 110 runs.

Trull posted 201-9 with J. Hayward hitting 79 and M. Crawford taking 3-20 off seven.

G. Walters and G. Fitt both took three wickets to run through the middle order and keep Trull in second place.

Wellington 2nds maintained their top position with a fine seven-wicket win against Uphill Castle 2nds.

Uphill hit 191-5, with T. Oultram (64) and G. Williams (58) dominating the innings.

But Wellington openers M. Holloway (63) and T. Brooks Snr (70) were also in great form, guiding their side to victory.

In Division 6, Staplegrove 2nds suffered only their second defeat of the season, losing by 33 runs to Taunton St Andrew's A.

The Saints must have feared the worst as D. Bailey, M. Quick, P. Horton and J. Hodge took two wickets apiece to bowl them out for 119.

But B. Walford took 4-15 and J. Brice 3-23 to skittle the Grove out for 86.

Crewkerne carried on in imperious form, passing North Perrott 2nds target of 252 with four wickets remaining.

Perrott openers J. Ireland (72) and B. Rawle (73) set the foundation for a big innings but the rest under-achieved to reach 251 all out, M. Culpitt (3-49) and S. Rowswell (3-55) finishing off the lower order.

Rowswell was also in fine form with the bat, hitting 85 alongside A. Lawrence's half-century as Crewkerne won and went top.

Mark could only reach 124, despite N. Ollerenshaw's fine 55, and that was way too few for a strong Winscombe 2nds who came home with eight wickets to spare in Division 7N.

Half-centuries from J. Gray (69) and E. Peacock (50) saw Middlezoy 2nds to a 49-run win over Weston 3rds.

Middlezoy's 201-7 was backed up by J. Gray's tremendous 6-11 off eight to see Weston all out for 152.

Leaders East Huntspill were 96 runs too good for Shapwick & Polden 3rds after a match-winning 101 from N. Harding saw them post 172.

Harding stood firm as wickets fell around him and S. Dukes (3-29) and J. Davis (2-0) did their best to spoil the party.

R. Pomeroy ran through the Shapwick batting line-up, taking 6-15 off six until R. Edwards (31) and Davis (10) offered late but futile resistance.

Burnham 2nds remain in second place after their 69-run win over Uphill Castle Cavaliers.

Andy Ashfold was again in good form, hitting a watchful, unbeaten 82, while E. Lewis' 50 provided the pep on their way to a total of 193-8.

Uphill's reply fell away after M. Ogborne was out for 51 with D. Aston taking 5-33 and A. Birkett 3-21.

In Division 7S, a fine, unbeaten 109 from I. Hucker saw North Petherton 2nds past Taunton A's 155 with four wickets remaining.

Eight Taunton batsmen got into double figures but Hucker (3-37), T. Smith (2-21), J. Froud (2-20) and A. Wright (2-20) picked them off regularly.

Hucker remained solid while Taunton's M. Muraleedharan took 3-28 and A. Jacob 2-17, but to no avail.

Huish & Langport finished one run short of Lydford's 151 all out in a thriller.

R. Jose (38) and T. Paradise (30) top-scored in Lydford's total as S. Bown took 4-15.

Huish's reply was sailing along with G. Gough (32) and Bown (25) were in; but a late collapse meant the last four batsmen were all out without scoring and Lydford claimed a famous victory.

Bottom clubs Barrington 2nds and Watchet 2nds battled out a close contest with the former coming out victors by three wickets.

Watchet hit 156-9 with C. Jeromson hitting 42 and E. Jeromson 30.

But a late, unbeaten 59 from S. Crocker saved the day for Barrington, despite J. Milton taking 3-19 off eight.

In Division 8N, Belvedere 2nds picked up their first win of the season with a 63-run win over Lympsham 2nds.

J. Parker scored a late 35 to boost Belvedere's total to 182-9, with A. Evans taking 3-25 off eight.

But that was way too many for Lympsham who fell away after P. Gadsden (30) was dismissed.

Wellington 3rds came a cropper against Taunton Deane Crusaders in this second v third battle.

Batting first, Wellington could only muster 119, despite R. Henwood Snr's unbeaten 68.

P. Batstone (4-16 off eight) did the damage and set up a four-wicket win with J. Arscott's early 34 steadying the ship for the Crusaders.

Wellington's R. Short (4-33) was the pick of their bowlers.

In Division 8S, Crewkerne won their match against Chard A by 71 runs.

The winners' 211-3 featured a fine, unbeaten 97 by P. Tolley.

Chard A started out in fine fettle with openers D. Druce (43) and R. Barrett (33) set the match up, but it was all downhill after that as E. Hawkins (5-30) ran through the late order.

All Saints won the basement battle against Ilminster A with 107 runs to spare.

They hit 181-3 with F. Wallace hitting a fine, unbeaten 82 and M. Willmington 35.

Then, Ilminster's batting fell away as M. Nunns strangled them, taking 3-4 off eight, and A. Priestley 2-1 off his only over.

J. Sainsbury top scored for Ilminster with 25.

South Petherton 2nds' K. White (43) top-scored to see his side to a four-wicket win over Wembdon Academy after they hit 147-9.

A. Sturdy top-scored with 31 for the Academy as each of Petherton's seven bowlers took at least a wicket.

Sturdy was again in form with the ball, taking 4-23 but it was not enough to foil Petherton.

Huntspill and District 2nds came a cropper to Wedmore 2nds, who finished 11 runs ahead after hitting 195-5.

M. Hunt (61) and J. Gamlin (56no) put Wedmore in a strong position with K. Jefferies taking 2-17.

And, although M. Cavill (44) and S. Cavill (33) made sizeable contributions, L. Patch (3-47), M. Lee (2-22) and A. Stringer (2-21) kept chipping away until their were no Huntspill wickets remaining.

Ilton 2nds had a good day in Division 9S when they picked up the scalp of leaders Long Sutton 2nds.

The Ilton bowlers restricted Sutton to 155-9 then, despite losing wickets regularly, they passed their total with three wickets remaining.