Potterne CC 230ao (48ovs) def. Bridgwater CC 128ao (19.1ovs)

On a day full of heavy showers in the region, Bridgwater CC were beaten by a strong Potterne side away from home.

Bridgwater won an important toss and chose to field but that was nearly as good as it got for the visitors, as very little went right for them afterwards.

An opening partnership of 64 in only 6 overs from the hard hitting Akram (42) and Cullen (40) saw the home side off to a flyer before the experienced Dan Williams joined the fray to produce a superb seven over spell, beating the bat on numerous occasions, without any luck whatsoever. 

His return of 1-19 was scant reward for his excellence but he slowed the rate massively, as wickets started to fall at the other end. 

With Max Toohey (2-47) producing a double wicket maiden the home side were reduced to 142-5 and at this stage if the cricketing Gods had smiled on Bridgwater just a little more, a way below par score would have been on the cards for Potterne. 

Stubborn lower order resistance saw them struggle to 230 all out despite a fine second spell from Jarrid Mckay, whose extra pace and aggression saw him return 4-41. 

The score was still way below par on the smallest ground at the top level in the region and in fact, Bridgwater were very pleased with their bowling and fielding efforts at the interval.

As on several other occasions this season, Bridgwater were unable to put the other crucial facet of their game together, namely their batting.

Not helped by a three very dubious decisions, they slumped to 43-7 in the face of Potterne's excellent opening bowlers as Afridi (5-39) and Aubrey (5-59) tore through the Bridgwater line up.

Merv Hallaran (17) and a gritty Tom Lace (18) were the only scorers in the top 9 and it was left to the last pair of Luke Pearson Taylor (44no) and Toohey (29) who added 57 for the last wicket, to show what might have been if the other batters could have applied themselves earlier in the innings.  

The defeat finished off Bridgwater's chances of finishing runners up in a very competitive Premier 1 this season, a season that promised a great deal at the start. 

Next Saturday, they are home to Bristol (12.30) in the battle for third place.