Belstone v Bratton Fleming

MOST of this game at Rew Meadow was played in a stiff breeze and steady drizzle. For the first half an hour the Belstone batsmen struggled on a pitch of variable bounce and well exploited by opening bowlers James Thomas and Dan Smith who beat the bat often but only had the early wicket of Ryan Dennis to show for it.

Gradually batsmen Phil Woods and James Ewen adjusted to the pitch and began to score more freely against the change bowlers, eventually adding 98 for the second wicket before Ewen was caught by Charles Langdon off James Tapp just after he reached his half century.

Matt Dennis then made 44, his best score of the season with five fours, adding 60 for the fourth wicket with Woods before the latter was caught in the deep by Smith off the spin of 15-year old Adam Drew for 70, which included 10 fours and one six.

From a position of strength at 181-3 with six overs to go Belstone then contrived a total collapse, losing their remaining seven wickets, to be 197 all out. This spell included two golden ducks, for 16 runs, as the visitors came back into the game helped by three catches for keeper Sam Bithell and wickets apiece for Thomas (7-1-25-4) and Smith (6.5-0-23-2).

Bratton Fleming began their reply badly losing both openers with only five on the board with Ryan Dennis bowling an accurate and economical spell, conceding just seven runs from his eight overs.

The middle order began to chip away at the runs required with Bithell (25), Thomas (20) and skipper Steve Kingdom (23) all getting a start but just as they began to threaten, good catches were taken by keeper Ewen, in the slips by Matt Dennis and at deep mid off by Alex Jopling. Smith then hit Frew-Smith for two sixes and two boundaries in successive balls which led to a lengthy discussion as the umpires debated whether to call the game off because of the slippery ball and dangerous outfield. In the next over came the crucial wicket for Belstone as the left-arm spin of Andy King trapped Smith leg before for 33 with the score on 120-5.

King followed up next ball by bowling Finn Tapp, getting Belstone back in the driving seat. A late flurry of boundaries from Jack Foster gave Bratton Fleming hope but their cause was not helped by being one man short and the game finished when Tom Boother (6.4-0-27-3) bowled Foster for 24 to give the home side their fourth win in the league this season, by 37 runs.