Bashley CC II continue imperious form to remain at the top of the table

Southern Div 2 / Div 3 (West): Trojans CC 57 vs Bashley CC II 58-4

BASHLEY CC IIs made it five wins from five matches with a six-wicket victory over Trojans to continue the club’s seemingly unstoppable march to the league title.

The Trojans skipper won the toss and elected to bat first. The decision proved costly with only two Trojans batsmen scoring more than 10 runs.

Opener Ed Boyd went for a duck off debutant Ted Bracey's (2-11) delivery before Bracey proved the catalyst again when his ball led to Touqeer Ahmed (3) being caught by Louis Prichard.

Trojans' Nigel Le Bas and Matt Atkins were the only ones to offer some resistance to the Bashley bowling attack. Opener Le Bas managed 13 runs before Ben Fletcher caught him off a Saif Achakzai (2-3) delivery. Four wickets later, top scorer Atkins fell on 18 runs when he was bowled by Simon Watkins (2-11). Josh Parsons (1-12) and Ethan Baker (3-3) took the other wickets to leave the home side all out for 57.

With such a small target to chase, perhaps complacency can be blamed for the loss of Bashley’s first wicket. An unfortunate mix-up between openers Prichard (1), making his debut, and Will Tripcony (2) led to the former being run out by Jamie Donaldson.

Donaldson (2-19) was in the thick of the action again when he bowled Tripcony. Just two runs later, the same bowler took James Underwood’s (2) wicket to leave the visitors feeling the heat on 16-3.

With their perfect record on the line, in-form captain Pat Lewis (30 not out) steadied the ship with three fours and a six. By the time Bashley’s Achakzai (8) was caught by Harvey Singh off Ahmed’s delivery, the league leaders needed only nine runs to win. Top-scorer Lewis provided the extras to lead his side to victory.

For this match, Bashley’s fielded their youngest second team, containing six teenagers and two 20-year-olds.

On Saturday Bashley II take on South Wilts II in their last league fixture of the campaign.