George Ford was the star turn as Winterbourne earned a nine-run win in a low-scoring game against Bradley Stoke & Almondsbury in the Senior Division of the Bristol and District League. Ford took 4-28 as Bradley Stoke were bowled out for 121 after earlier being the mainstay for Winterbourne when they batted, too, scoring 36 from 70 balls, the most by any player on either side.
Ben Rivers (3-26) and Hashir Farouk (3-29) were the pick of the Bradley Stoke attack.
In the First Division, Cleeve overcame Claverham (Yatton) by two runs, taking the final wicket with the last ball of the 40th over. Chasing 152, Claverham were always up against it despite Lloyd Richardson’s 52. They slipped to 67-6 but refused to buckle, and it wasn’t until Tom Carpenter’s last-ball run out that Cleeve could finally celebrate.
James Tucker took 3-27 for Cleeve while Sojib Ahmed claimed 3-14 for Claverham.
It was just as tense at Timsbury, where the home side were beaten by one wicket by Hanham with just one ball remaining.
Timsbury were dismissed for 130 with Jez Hare top-scoring with 44. Hanham didn’t find runs any easier to come by – Ben Brown top-scoring with 35 – and they needed number 11 George Charles-Price to hit the winning run.
Krishan Kumar made 97 from 87 balls to set up Bohemians’ 110-run win over Knowle 2nds in the Second Division. Kumar shared in an opening partnership of 115 with Sooraj Edward (44), as Bohemians reached 233-9. Kumar then took 3-25 in Knowle’s reply.
Opening batter Cameron Perry hit 115 – 15 fours and four sixes – as Hambrook made 262-9 against Bristol West Indian Phoenix 2nds. The visitors then slumped to 42-6 before being dismissed for 90 with Muhammad Ahmed (3-15) and Mitch Vardy (3-15) the pick of the bowlers for Hambrook.
Twyford House 2nds beat Pakistani Express by four wickets, but the game went to the last over after Pakistani Express had earlier rattled along to 245 all out in 34.5 overs. Opener Sayab Zulfiqar made 104 from 94 balls before James Marks took 5-48 as Pakistani Express lost their last eight wickets for 38 runs.
Openers Madhav Mehta (87) and Mark Fowler (68) provided an excellent platform for Twyford House, but Zulfiqar took 4-61 to cause some concern before the home side got home with five balls remaining.
A captain’s innings of 58 by Lahiru Perera helped Bristol Sri Lankans defeat Hampset by three wickets with nine balls to spare in the Third Division.
Earlier Hampset opener Ashton Wright had made an unbeaten 72 in his side’s total of 178-6 in 40 overs. Deepal Dewage took 3-48.
Backwell Flax Bourton beat Blagdon by one wicket and with one ball remaining in a nail-biter in the Fourth Division. Blagdon made 206, an innings that was built around skipper Haydon Lyons’ 75.
Harsha Vardhana top-scored for Backwell Flax Bourton with 56 before number 11 Nathan Mullings hit the winning run.
Ed Holdaway hit 101 for Barrow Gurney, but it was in a losing cause as his side went down by 33 runs to Bitton.
Bitton had made 270-5 with Sheraz Raja Muhammad making 91 from 61 balls and Muhammad Ramzan 61 from 51. Ramzan then took centre stage with the ball, finishing with 5-35.
Golden Hill 3rds squeezed home by three wickets with just two balls to spare against Bristol Aces, with wicketkeeper Joe McKimm’s knock of 56 vital as they overhauled Bristol Aces’ 192-9.
The final ball of the match in the Fifth Division clash between University of Bristol Staff and Pak Bristolians 2nds went for two, which meant the game ended in a tie.
Pak Bristolians closed on 163-9, which was some achievement because their 10th wicket pair came together with the score on 94.
Tanveer Ahmed, batting at six, faced the final delivery, and he finished unbeaten on an excellent 74 after University of Bristol Staff had made their runs for the loss of six wickets. James Swarbrigg top-scored for them with an unbeaten 58.
Bristol New Eleven made it two wins out of two in the Sixth Division with a five-wicket win over Dyrham & Hinton, who they dismissed for 132 with Kapil Sharma taking 4-27. Despite losing their top order with just 46 on the board, Salu Kanakalil Thomas eased them to victory with an unbeaten 55.
