Lympsham were well beaten by the Pakistani Express team, who knocked off the runs in quick time.

LYMPSHAM travelled to Oldbury in Bristol to face Pakistani Express for the first game of the turnaround.

Captain Luff lost the toss and was asked to bat on what looked an unpredictable surface. The visitors struggled from ball one, losing Dave Luff in the first over, Mike Tucker in the second and Jack Luff in the fourth over. This left the visitors struggling at 8-3.

Lympsham Concrete man of the match Tom Gooding dug his heels in and started to play his shots, rebuilding slowly with Rich Ford after Sam Poole was removed. Once Ford was removed for 20, James Taylor came in to support Gooding.

Gooding was eventually removed for a superb 73 and as wickets started to tumble with the opening bowlers coming back on, Lympsham were skittled out for 144.

Lympsham started strongly, with Luff using the bouncy pitch to his advantage, taking the first wicket with a bouncer which was caught behind in the second over.

From here on, the batsmen rode their luck and wickets became hard to find. Only Taylor could chip in with Lympsham’s second breakthrough and by this time the home side were already 122-2.

The hosts knocked of the runs in just 23.5 overs, meaning Lympsham were on the wrong side of a disappointing result.

THE seconds entertained top of the table Bedminster and decided to bat first in perfect conditions.

Despite the early loss of Simon Bailey, captain Rich Drew (57) and Rod Simpson (37) applied themselves against some ccurate bowling and took the score to 76 before the partnership was broken in the 28th over.

The experienced Andrew Hall then added some valuable impetus into the innings with a quick fire 57. A fine cameo knock from Max Gregory saw Lympsham end their innings on 189-5 after 45 overs.

In reply, Bedminster lost two early wickets due to some tight bowling from the impressive Felix Grandfield (2-34) and Stuart Bruce (1-29). However, Bedminster maintained a consistent run rate and despite some accurate bowling from Brendon Summers (2-21) and Jules Froud (2-30), they crossed the winning line with four overs to spae for the loss of seven wickets.

The Jelf Lampier Group man of the match award was shared equally between Rich Drew and Andrew Hall.

THE Sunday Development IX held their annual fixture against a team of ex-Brent Knoll players, captained by Pat Hancock.

Adam Mickelwright (2-35) got Lympsham off to a great start removing the dangerous Andy Veal (10) and M Edwards (1) with only 25 on the scoreboard. This brought in Aussie J Waters who hit a quick 35 before being the first of James Taylor’s (2-21) victims.

At the other end, Hancock (51) kept the score going at a healthy rate. Dave Luff (20), Driver (28) and a hard hitting 22 from Bagg took the visitors to 218. Felix Granfield picked up 2-27 at the end.

Lympsham’s reply got off to a great start as C Scriven (53) and Jamie Howson (48) put on 102 for the first wicket. Captain Tom Gooding (16) and J Luff (20) kept the score going, but when both were out, 80 runs were still required off the last 10 overs.

Nuts & Bolts man of the match Liam Morris (48) and James Taylor joined forces and kept Lympsham in the game, but once Taylor was out the game looked lost. Morris started hitting some fine boundaries and helped by the youngsters M Gregory, T Ferns and F Garnfield, Lympsham required 13 for an unlikely win off the final over.

Morris took two off the final delivery to ensure the game was tied, a fitting end to an enthralling match.