West of England Premier League
Premier 1
Clevedon 1st XI 248 all out beat Bridgwater 1st XI 130 all out by 118 runs

BRIDGWATER slipped into the Premier 1 relegation zone after a 118-run defeat at second-placed Clevedon on Saturday.

Home skipper Jake Lintott won a crucial toss and elected to bat, with their openers reaching 72 before losing Ben Keysal (20), as he became Alfonso Thomas’ first victim.

Lintott, though, brought up his half-century to take Clevedon on to 116 before falling for 58, lbw to Thomas.

More useful scores came from Marc Lezar (29), Andy Solomons (44) and Jake Rowe (22), as the hosts were all out for 248 off the penultimate ball of their innings.

Thomas was the standout bowler, with 4-22 off 10 overs, while Andrew Skidmore took 2-55 off 10.

The Bridgwater reply was in trouble almost as soon as it began, as Merv Hallaran (5), Ben Coombes (5) and Alastair Witts (1) fell cheaply to leave their side on 39-3.

Only Chris Gange (26) offered much resistance, and after he fell to Tabish Khan the middle order subsided.

From 80-8, though, Andrew Skidmore (27no) and Liam Redrup (20) put up a good fight to gain a batting point.

But Redrup fell to Lintott, and Pople was lbw off the very next ball, ending the innings for 130 in 42.2 overs.

Khan finished with 4-26 off six overs for Clevedon, with Jake Rowe taking 2-21 off nine and Lintott 2-12 off 7.2.

With only six points going Bridgwater’s way, and Downend and Potterne winning, that dumped them into the relegation places, two points behind Lechlade and Potterne with one fixture left.

To avoid the drop, Bridgwater must beat bottom side (and already relegated) Corsham at home next Saturday (12.30pm), in order to leapfrog any of the teams above them.

With Lechlade facing Bristol (10 points ahead of Bridgwater), the opportunity is there if they can take it.

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SCB Major Cup final
Bath 153-5 (19.1ovs) beat Bridgwater 149-5 (20ovs) by 5 wkts

AFTER winning the toss at the County Ground on Sunday, a much better batting display saw Bridgwater reach a competitive 149-5.

Skipper Merv Hallaran (40), Chris Skidmore (33) and Chris Gange (24) led the way.

But that proved 20 runs light, as Tom Hankins (48), Ben Wells (30) and Paul Muchall (30) got their team home with five balls left.

Chris Skidmore, Alfonso Thomas, Stuart Butt and Chris Singleton took a wicket each for Bridgwater.

This was Bridgwater’s first Major Cup final loss in seven appearances since 1984.

Thanks go to Bridgwater’s excellent, vociferous support, and to Guy Rossiter for his organisational skills.