Seasiders drop to third

WESTON'S game against relegation contenders Bristol ended rather disappointingly when the rain set in during tea.

John Williams (59) and Andy Fear (52 not out) had manoeuvred Weston into the driving seat, both hitting half centuries, taking the total to the competitive 237 for 7 from their 55 overs.

Edd Brown and Gary Morgan got the innings off to a good start before Brown knicked one to the keeper off Gloucestershire's David Brown, Rob Holman departed in the same fashion only two overs later leaving Bristol with the impression of having the upper hand.

Despite Brown (31), Morgan (44) and d'Souza (32) all making starts but failing to convert, Williams and Fear put together an innings-saving partnership of 94, both taking a distinct liking to Charlie Walker and David Brown, however Brown did finish with 5-66.

Once the rain set in the game was abandoned without Weston taking to the field. This result sees Weston drop to third in the table as Frocester managed to record a result leap frogging them into the top of the table position.

Saturday sees the 1st XI host Bridgwater who are in the midst of a purple patch, hopes are high for a good game as in the early season encounter Weston successfully chased 290. The game starts at 12.30pm.

The 2nds and 3rds are away to Bridgwater and Brislington respectively, while the 4th XI host Nailsea at Clarence Park, hoping for a repeat performance of their earlier game when Sam Poole hit 135 not out. The game starts at 1.45pm.

Weston 2nds faced Keynsham on a day where rain was inevitable at some point. Keynsham won the toss an elected to field which proved to be a good decision. Weston lost early wickets on a track that favoured the bowling side and found themselves 49 for 4 off only 22 overs. Keynsham's off spinner John Courtney (4-26) made it difficult for Weston until some classic batting from Paul Stringer (13), Jalal Ahmed (15) and Sean Stringer (28) hit some quick, much needed runs, taking Weston to a defendable 143 all out. During the tea break the rain started and did not stop leaving the umpires no alternative but to abandon the game.

Brunel Ford man of the match was Sean Stringer for an outstanding 28 runs off 21 balls.

Weston 3rds, with a strong batting line-up, looked in a good position to force victory against top-of-the-table Knowle West until as expected the rain intervened at tea.

After winning the toss and electing to bowl, the Weston openers Tom Court (1-20) and Stu Roberts (1-36) kept the rate down while snareing the important wicket of Rob Bailey for a duck.

A revival, led by Darren Weeks (54) and Clive Bailey (27) bought Knowle West back into the game despite their fascination that the pitch, albeit spitting occasionally, was a lot worse than it actually was. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals to Justin Turner (2-39), Simon Biddle (1-50) and Pete Lomax (3-29), however some sensible batting, principally from Stewart Cole (36), enabled the table-toppers to post 200-8 from their 40 overs. The rain arrived in the 39th, as predicted, and with little restbite the captains were forced to shake hands and call the game off.

Brunel Ford man of the match goes to Tom Court for his economical bowling and getting that vital early wicket.

Amazingly Jon Lawrence won the toss yet again and with the promise of some awful weather to come, Weston 4ths were batting.

The batting line-up was initially a bit hit and miss with two cars not having got to the ground come 2pm. Hopefully one day everyone will meet at even roughly the right time so we can actually set off to the match in plenty of time.

Jon Lawrence (18) and Mike Lee (55) started off in an interesting fashion with some 30 runs from the first three overs, the second over consisting of 15 balls certainly helped.

Ben Dancey (19) carried on where Jon left off but once he went only one more batsman,Terry Horler with 14, made double figures as Weston were swept aside in a mere 30 overs for 157.

With Keynsham needing to score just under 80 in 20 overs in order to win they set off in fine style comfortably reaching 50-plus in the first nine overs. The drizzle came in with about 10 overs gone, but by that time it was so obvious that Weston were simply outclassed that a decision was made to carry on unless the weather really turned bad.

Star for Keynsham was Jack Boulton (82) who nearly carried his bat but fell to Adam Nash on the last ball of the innings, leaving Keynsham victors by eight wickets on run rate.

Brunel Ford man of the match goes to Mike Lee for his first 50 of the season.