Bath CC 114ao (19.4 ovs.) def. Bridgwater 2nd X1 108-7 (20 overs)

IN a hard fought Final played on a bowler friendly pitch at The Cooper Associates County Ground, Bridgwater 2nd X1 put up an excellent fight against Premier 1 Champions Bath on Sunday, writes Michael Moran.

Choosing to bowl first, Bridgwater's bowling and fielding were outstanding as they took wickets at regular intervals early on to reduce Bath to 23-3, with the pacy Harrison Hambly (2-10) doing the damage. 

The only stand of note was of 50 between James Marshall (41) and Harry Ellison (21) before Chris Singleton (3-14) and Matt Habberfield (2-21) put the block on during the closing overs, aided by an excellent display from 16 year old Ollie Gribble behind the stumps. 

Scott Clapp (2-12) took the last two wickets to finish off a superb display from the underdogs.

However, Bridgwater were to lose early wickets in the same fashion as the pitch continued to aid the Bath bowlers this time, as they slumped to 23-3 themselves. 

A 35 run stand between Haminder Singh (22) and skipper Ali Witts (17) settled their side down before both fell with the score on 58.

Andrew Skidmore (18) and Callum Pope (17no) rebuilt the inning against some very economical and accurate Bath bowling but the required rate climbed to 9 from the last three overs as the Bridgwater batsmen found boundaries difficult to come by. 

14 were required off the last over but only 8 were scored by Seth Locke, to leave Bridgwater ruing the lack of rotation during the middle part of the innings. 

James Arney (3-28) was the pick of the Bath bowlers.

They left the field to an excellent ovation from the very large and supportive Bridgwater crowd who had appreciated the terrific effort their Players had put into the match. 

In other news, Bridgwater Cricket Club's first team lost by a single wicket in their final match of the WEPL Premier One campaign at the weekend.

The match was at home to Frocester and the visiting side restricted Bridgwater to 76 runs all out after 20 overs.

They chased down the target in 23.5 overs to wrap up a straight forward win.