Weston took plenty of positives from their latest WEPL Prem Two defeat against table-topping Bath at the weekend.

Fielding a team much weakened by injury and availability issues, with Chris Davidson among those who could not play, Weston saw stand-in captain Ryan Davies win the toss and elect to bat first.

Bristol struck early with the new ball, as Rudge (9-1-29-4) claimed two wickets in the third over to reduce Weston to 3-2.

And for a worrying time, it looked like a repeat of the reverse fixture may have been on the cards, but opener Sam Elstone led a fightback for the third consecutive weekend.

Elstone eventually fell for 74 to the bowling of Probert (9-3-25-3) with the score on 113-5, but Davis Trego batted maturely in a stand of 45 with Tahmid Ahmed (20), and it looked as if Weston would reach 200 to claim a fourth batting point.

However, when Trego was out for 38 with three overs to go, the rest of the batting crumbled and Weston finished up 188 all out.

With many of the usual bowling attack unavailable, defending that total against such a strong batting team as Bristol was always going to be a challenge, and this challenge grew tougher when Andy Fear was unable to bowl more than one over due to a calf problem.

Trenouth fell to Tahmid Ahmed for 36, but opener Halstead-Cleak finished the innings unbeaten on 102 as Bristol chased the total down inside 25 overs for the loss of just the one wicket.

While this may seem like a bad loss, Weston can feel happy with the way many of the younger players batted, and with the all-round fielding of the team.

Elstone took the Forte Financial player of the match award for the Devonshire Road club, who are currently sitting in fifth place and visit third-placed Frome this weekend.