BIDDESTONE’S charge for honours continued as they put Tewkesbury to the sword by 15 runs.

Opting to bat, the hosts saw partnerships of 83 between opener Martin Sawyer (27) and Niel Bredenkamp (47) and 59 between Dwaine Perry (83) and Andy Flynn 23 move their score forward.

Perry and Stuart Kingwell (18) added 66 for the fifth wicket before late wickets saw Biddestone’s innings finish on 260, David Vernon taking 6-35 for Tewkesbury.

The visitors suffered early losses in reply but the middle and later order came to the fore, Tom Allcoat scoring 95 and Vernon 29.

Perry took 3-44 and Chris Baker 3-47 as the away side were all out for 245.

Chippenham were unable to upset title-chasers Lechlade who claimed a five-wicket success at Hardenhuish Park.

Captain Lee Ward scored 58 in his side’s 163-9 from 50 overs, wicketkeeper Billy Cookson adding 26.

Luke Sellers took 3-25 for the visitors, who cruised to their target in the 32nd over courtesy of knocks of Will Nichols (36) and Bradley Dial (47 not out).

Goatacre ride their luck to claim welcome victory

GOATACRE captain Brad Dawson cut a relieved figure as his side scraped home by seven runs at Glastonbury.

Opener Ed Wilkins was run out without facing a ball as the visitors lost wickets at regular intervals in Somerset.

At one stage Goatacre were 60-5 before a well-crafted 58 from Rob Murphy helped them reach 203 all out.

After dismissing Glastonbury’s dangerman Harry Ellison for 27 following a stunning one-handed over-head catch from Jif Wilkins, the home captain Ali Easton struck 57 from 61 balls to swing the game back in his team’s favour before Goatacre managed to restrict them to 196-7 from their 50 overs.

“They should have never have got as close as they did,” Dawson said.

“We were quite lucky to get the win as they batted sensibly at the end.

“If we hadn’t had got their captain Ali Easton when we did it could have been a different story, but thankfully we did.

“We now need to beat Cheltenham on Saturday and then we can climb another place in the table and start to think about catching the teams in fourth and fifth.”

“It was a wicket where you just needed to bat sensibly. Kevin Iles, Rob Murphy and Joe Tillyer did that and we managed to 203.

Potterne slipped to their first defeat of the season as Ilminster secured a five-wicket victory at The Grove.

Winning the toss and batting, Wiltshire's Ed Young (72) and wicketkeeper-opener James Hendrickson (26) put on 83 for the third wicket but the other home batsmen struggled as James Thompson took 4-22 and Harry Montacute 2-32 to end the innings on 194 in the 48th over.

Opener Louis Kraucamp's 92 off 58 balls underpinned the Ilminster reply as they raced to their target in 28 overs, Josh De Souza taking 2-7.

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