TOP-of-the-table Lympsham entertained bottom club Bishop Sutton on a flat but damp wicket.

TOP-of-the-table Lympsham entertained bottom club Bishop Sutton on a flat but damp wicket. Unfortunately Luff lost the toss and got inserted.

Openers Rich Ford (4) and Jason Parsons (0) soon found themselves back in the pavilion. Mike Tucker and Jamie Howson began to rebuild the innings but, with the score on 40, the in-form Howson edged one behind for 22. Haydn Tuttiett (1) shouldered arms and got bowled. Luff, batting in the lower order, hit three boundaries before smashing a half volley straight to cover. At 62 for 5 Lympsham were in trouble.

Rich Coles started off his innings nervously and survived an easy chance, but the longer he bats the further he hits it, and with Mike Tucker he found a solid partner. They put on 140 runs off the final 22 overs. Coles was finally out for a hard hitting 87 which included five sixes, earning him the Lympsham Concrete man of the match award. Mike Tucker batted for 41 overs for a solid 67 not out. Lympsham's innings finished on a respectable 202 for 6.

Bishop Sutton came out after tea in a positive mood, but with Howson back bowling at his best, their two openers were beaten for pace as both were clean bowled, leaving them reeling at 32 for 2. After that none of the batsmen ever looked like threatening the Lympsham total.

The ever reliable Geoff Tucker 9-0-39-4 and Simon Bailey 5-1-8-2 bowled well and it was left to Tom Gooding to finally wrap up the innings. Bishop Sutton struggled to 108 all out. Lympsham go into Saturday's game against the only other unbeaten side in the division, Pucklechurch in confident mood.

n Lympsham 2nds travelled to Blagdon and again stand-in captain Simon Cowgill lost the toss and Lympsham were asked to bat on a slow, spongy wicket.

Lympsham's opening batsmen began looking to be positive but both were soon back in the pavilion. This bought Adrian Mabberly and Darren Clapp together who patiently began to build a partnership, which took time to score with boundaries hard to come by due to the large and slow outfield.

The partnership was eventually broken and wickets began to fall along with the run rate. Lympsham totalled 127 for 9 off their 45 overs with special mention for Adrian Mabberly who top scored with a patient 34.

Lympsham took to the field in a positive manor with Academie Fiscale Ltd man of the match Andy Russ and young Jack Luff opening the bowling.

After his four overs, Jack was replaced by Liam Morris who continued to bowl tightly, leading to Blagdon falling to 12 for 5 then 27 for 6. However Blagdon then began to build a substantial partnership which led to Andy Russ being bought back into the attack to make the breakthrough. Andy finished with figures of 15-5-22-5.

Wickets slowly fell leading to Blagdon needing three to win of the final over with two wickets in hand. Simon Cowgill picked up a wicket early in the over and, with the pressure on, Lympsham only conceded one run in the over meaning victory by one run. This was an excellent performance in the field by everyone and a welcome return to winning ways.

n Lympsham's development side played their annual Presidents v Chairman's XI but included a few twists. Instead of a 40-over match the game was played by having two innings of 20/20 cricket. After a hard-fought contest the Chairman's XI won by just 12 runs.