Bradford ease relegation worries (From This Is Wiltshire)

Bradford ease relegation worries

10:14am Tuesday 26th August 2008

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BRADFORD eased their relegation worries in Division One of the Wiltshire League with a two wicket home win over Spye Park.

They now only need to pick up a handful of points from their visit to league leaders Calne next weekend to ensure Division One cricket next season.

With both teams fielding weakened line-ups for a must win game for the hosts, Bradford put Spye Park into bat and got off to a good start, with opening bowlers Matthew Harrington and Wali Ahmed bowling well.

Harrington was the first to pick up a wicket, forcing a mistake from opener Tim Hues and Gareth Moorhouse taking an excellent high catch.

Ahmed then dismissed the dangerous Dave Beal lbw for a duck and Russell West was removed by Harrington for 13, with Paul Ashton taking a good one handed catch behind the stumps.

When Paul Fennel was dismissed by Dean Bird's first ball, Bradford were on top with the visitors 65 for four from 20 overs. A good mid-innings partnership between Mark Hulse and Rich Bowater enabled Spye Park to build their innings but when Tony Laws dismissed both batsmen for a well made 50 and 35 respectively Bradford were in control. The innings was mopped up by Laws and Harrington, who finished with figures of 9.5-1-26-4 and 11-4-26-3 respectively.

Spye Park's total of 165 all out was a reasonable effort but a total that was within Bradford's reach.

The Bradford reply got off to a solid start, with openers James Edwards and Matthew Harrington putting on 37 before Harrington was dismissed for 13, caught and bowled by Nick Doughty. Edwards soon followed for 23, with the score on 52, but a solid third wicket partnership of 46 between Graham Long and Tony Laws kept Bradford on target for victory.

When Long was dismissed for 26, Laws and Huw Ricketts shared a 27 run partnership which took Bradford to 125 for three in the 37th over. However, Laws was run out for an excellent 41, from a direct hit from the boundary which tightened the game up again.

Solid contributions from Ricketts (11) and Paul Ashton (10) left Bradford to requiring 30 from the last five overs and victory was achieved with an excellent partnership between Gareth Moorhouse and Kiwi Nic Jepson, who made 12 not out and 11 not out respectively, with Jepson hitting a boundary to seal a two wicket win with four balls remaining.

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