Jacob Gordon guides Bashley to ECB Indoor National Club Championship semi-finals Lord's

BASHLEY (Rydal) are through to next month’s ECB Indoor National Club Championship semi-finals at Lord’s after beating Cheltenham Civil Service by one wicket in the south-west regional play-off.

Jacob Gordon hit an unbeaten 33 as Bashley successfully chased down a Civil Service total of 101-5 to win with five balls to spare.

They will now play Bedfordshire League side Flitwick on 3rd April and, if successful, will face either Horwich RMI or Ickenham in the ECB final.

Bashley made hard work of beating Cheltenham, with skipper Michael Porter confessing: “We didn’t play very well.”

Porter himself fell early as Bashley began their run chase, but Tom Jacques (31) and Gordon (33 not out) retired at 60 before the middle-order creaked and two wickets fell cheaply.

Jacques returned to the crease and, with teenager Sam Crisp (23) alongside him, guided Bashley to within striking distance of victory at 90-3 before being bowled.

Bashley were only five runs short when Crisp, whose batting and earlier economical bowling stood out, lost concentration and was needlessly stumped. However, Gordon kept his cool and eased Bashley into their debut ECB indoor final.