University of Bristol Staff overcame Bristol Pakistanis 2nds by three runs in a thrilling game in the Fifth Division of the Bristol League.
Bristol Pakistanis closed on 224-9 after Tom Moody, who finished with 2-33, bowled three dot balls with the last three balls of the innings. Tom Gerrard was the most successful of the University of Bristol Staff bowlers with 4-37 while skipper Mohammad Harris made 72 at the top of the order for Bristol Pakistanis. Captain Tim Wong had earlier made 96 for University of Bristol Staff while M Khalid took 3-44 for Bristol Pakistanis.
The win – University of Bristol Staff’s second – lifts them to seventh in the table while second-placed Bristol Pakistanis now trail Bristol United Banks by 30 points.
It was a good day for Bristol United Banks because they beat third-placed Stoke Bishop by 25 runs.
Farman Ahmed made 85 as they posted 204 and then Aizaz Khan took 3-22 as Stoke Bishop, for whom Simon Morris made 75, were bowled out in the 39th over.
Danny Slade picked up 5-14 as Coalpit Heath rushed to a 122-run win over Bradley Stoke & Almondsbury in the Senior Division. Jack S Williams took 3-18 as Bradley Stoke & Almondsbury were shot out for 77. Earlier, Mike Prham had top-scored for Coalpit Heath with 54 while Dan Qureshi claimed 4-33 for the visitors.
Edward Bourdeaux made an unbeaten 94, and Theo Parrott contributed 61 as Golden Hill eased to an eight-wicket win against Midsomer Norton. Midsomer Norton had been restricted to 201-9 with Haseeb Noori (3-23) and Bourdeaux (3-35) the pick of Golden Hill’s bowlers.
Hanham climbed out of the bottom two in the First Division with a 130-run win over leaders Lodway. George Stone took 4-19, and Robert Knight collected 3-14 as Lodway were shot out for 103 in 24.1 overs. The victory lifted Hanham to eighth in the table.
A second-wicket partnership of 125 between Aidan Kee (75) and Joe Brotherton (55) propelled Shirehampton to a four-wicket win over Keynsham 2nds, who made 211-7.
Bishopston 2nds moved to within nine points of Second Division leaders Hambrook after beating them by eight wickets. The third-placed side bowled out Hambrook for 230 in 38.5 overs with Ben Thorogood top-scoring with 63. Rory Nicol took 3-48 and then looked on as skipper Richard Buroughs (78) and James Pennington (74) led the victory charge with an opening partnership of 126.
Pakistani Express are now four points behind Hambrook after beating Old Down by 88 runs.
Qasir Abass (74) and Sohail Ahmad (70) were the major contributors in the 293-6 posted by Pakistani Express while Duncan Boffin top-scored for Old Down with 58. Sayab Zulfiqar claimed 3-16 for Pakistani Express while Abass picked up 3-26.
George Sutton took 5-39, and Jack Woodland collected 3-34 as Failand & Portbury finished on 221-9 against Carsons & Mangotsfield in the Third Division. That was 38 runs fewer than Carsons & Mangotsfield, for whom Tom King made 78 and Tour Ponting 58.
Long Ashton captain and opening batter Car Haywood made an unbeaten 103 in his side’s 219-4 against Winterbourne 2nds. But his side were still beaten by six wickets with Winterbourne getting home with eight balls to spare. Will Joyce was unbeaten on 57 while Amit Chib made 51.
An unbeaten 101 from 94 balls by Vishnu Manikkam drove St Mary Redcliffe to a six-wicket win over Barrow Gurney in the Fourth Division. He arrived at the wicket with his side 23-3 but shared in a partnership of 104 for the fourth wicket with Udeepa Munasinghe (61) as his side went past Barrow Gurney’s 213-9 with more than six overs to spare. Ed Holdaway (68) and Jason Cryans (61) were the main run-getters for Barrow Gurney while Shehan Appuhamilage (3-39) and Munasinghe (3-55) were the most successful of the St Mary Redcliffe bowlers.
Bottom-of-the-table Abbots Leigh enjoyed a fine 62-run win over leaders Bristol Eagles in the Sixth Division. Gary Pepperell top-scored with 57 as Abbots Leigh made 236-7 before Syed Ali Eazaz took 4-28 as Bristol Eagles were dismissed inside 34 overs. Aravind Sundar top-scored for Bristol Eagles with 53.
Second-placed Bristol New Eleven moved to within four points of Bristol Eagles after beating Timsbury by two wickets. Timsbury lost just two wickets while reaching 222 – Cory Versfeld made 90 and Dan Hill a quickfire unbeaten 53 – but Bristol New Eleven got home with 5.4 overs remaining. Oscar Humphries took 3-52 for Timsbury.
An opening partnership of 233 between Koushik Puliyamgote (134) and Vinay Kumar (102) was the foundation for Bristol Mavericks’ 317-6 against Midsomer Norton Methodist in Seventh Division East. They then restricted Midsomer Norton to 133-7.
Navjeet Singh (31 not out) hit the fourth ball of the final over for six as Hambrook 2nds beat Alveston by one wicket in Seventh Division North. Harish Sisodiya top-scored for Hambrook with 59 while Syd Rizvi took 4-54 for Alveston. Earlier, Faizan Asif made 53 of Alveston’s 236-7 while Jamie Kislingbury took 3-47 for Hambrook.
Two outstanding individual performances saw Pucklechurch record a 220-run win over Frys in Eighth Division East. Josh Stevenson made an unbeaten 184 from 135 balls in Pucklechurch’s 264-1 and then Kane Wynter claimed 7-10 as Frys were bundled out in 21.2 overs.
