Lansdown CC 128 / 4 (26.4) lost to Bridgwater CC 298 / 9 (46)

BRIDGWATER finished their away programme with a convincing victory at Lansdown on Saturday, led by an awesome all-round performance from Jake Lintott, writes Scott Sealey.

Lintott smashed a mammoth 153 from only 133 balls, in a huge visitors total of 298 for 9.

The eventual winning margin was 45 runs, calculated by the Duckworth Lewis Stearn calculation, but the margin of victory felt larger than that in a dominant performance from the visitors.

Bridgwater were put into bat on a seam friendly pitch, which extracted uneven bounce with the new ball, which made Lintott’s innings more remarkable, as the pitch was far from flat.

George Scott looked very dangerous in his first spell from the pavilion end, and dismissed Hallaran (6) early to a delivery that nipped back off the seam with the batter playing no shot, however Charlie Sharland joined Lintott, as the pair repaired the early damage in an enterprising partnership, that showed great skill in the tricky batting conditions.

It was a surprise when Sharland (17) chased a wide delivery from Scott and was well taken by Smith at 1st slip with the score on 66.

This brought skipper Alex Eckland to the crease, and he played a perfect supporting role for Lintott, who was particularly successful with his collection of sweeps, reverse sweeps and ramps, with the home bowlers not really knowing what to do to stem his flow of runs.

Lintott’s 50 came up in the 19th over off only 59 balls with 7 fours, and he continued to negotiate the change bowlers with ease, taking the score to 140 before Eckland (16) was very unfortunate to be strangled to a good catch at fine leg.

A short rain delay saw 4 overs lost from each innings, before Kian Roberts joined Lintott and played well in a key stand of 77, which saw Lintott to his deserved hundred off 109 balls, the innings well appreciated by a good-sized crowd.

Lintott eventually fell for a superb 153, which included 5 sixes, while Bridgwater set an imposing 298 for 9 at tea.

After tea, the Lansdown openers struggled against the pace of Kiwi Jarrod McKay, who dismissed Pitman in an initial spell of 1-7 from 5 overs that was genuinely quick.

All of the Bridgwater quintet of bowlers kept a check on the run rate and the introduction of Lintott brought 3 quick wickets, to leave the home side 89 for 4.

With dark clouds circling, the home batters chanced their arm in a quest for batting points, and Scott and Pearce got Lansdown to 128 for 4 before the heavens opened and the game abandoned soon afterwards, with no chance of play resuming.

Bridgwater’s effort deserved more than the 17 points for the D/L win, but cements their place in the top 4 for a second consecutive season.

Next Saturday Bridgwater host 2nd Frocester in the final round of games in the 2023 season, 12:00pm.