Division One

Buckland St Mary v Stogumber

WITH both sides weakened, Stogumber showed their superiority over Buckland St Mary on Saturday by winning by 96 runs.

Stogumber batted first and nearly all the way through their innings the bat was dominating the ball.

An opening knock of 40 by a smoke free Les Biffen gave them a good platform to move off from, but an unfortunate running out of Steven Hayes when he looked likely for a big score left them at 59-2.

Cometh the moment, commeth the captain, and from here on in Jimmy Rexworthy gradually increased the tempo, having useful partnerships with Biffen and Brian Penny to the extent that Stogumber finished their 40 overs on 209-5.

Ten man Buckland new they had a very tough task ahead of them and although opener S Mills scored 45 only K Reed (30) showed any other resistance to the Stogumber attack.

All five of the visitors bowlers claimed wickets with Timmy Auton finishing with the best figures of 3-18.

This result leaves Stogumber still in the fight for the runners-up spot in the league.

Stogumber: 209-5 (J Rexworthy 77 no, L Biffen 40, B Penny 25, S Hayes 22, S Penny 15).

Buckland St Mary: 113 (S Mills 45, K Reed 30, T Auton 3-18, J Rexworthy 2-13).

Points: Buckland St Mary 5 Stogumber 26.

Brompton Ralph v

Timberscombe

TIMBERSCOMBE'S bowlers certainly had a hard day when they visited Brompton Ralph on Saturday when the visitors lost by 68 runs.

Brompton batted first and on a good track and quick outfield the ball was frequently dispatched to the boundary.

The Timberscombe bowlers could make no impression on the batting order of any consequence, so much so that P Poole went on to score 152 and T Gill 70 no in the home side's large total of 263-1.

Timberscombe were always struggling to get near the required rate but they still managed to score nearly 200, with A Stevens top scoring for them with 61.

Eight wickets were claimed by the home side with P Power the pick of the bowlers finishing with 3-26.

Brompton Ralph: 263-2 (P Poole 152, T Gill 70 no).

Timberscombe: 195-8 (A Stevens 61, T Howard 39, A Priddle 24, P Power 3-26, D Hill 2-32, C Welch 2-60).

Points: Brompton Ralph 25 Timberscombe 5.

Stoodleigh v Roadwater

AFTER several close games between these sides Roadwater finally won at Stoodleigh by three wickets after a solid performance.

Electing to bat on a soft track the hosts immediately struggled against good pace and accuracy from Ben Bowman complemented by 12 overs of in-swing and bounce from Simon Aspey.

R Turnbull (43) and Sean Andrews (30), although both struggling, staged a recovery to 80-2 from 24 overs, but the attempt to accelerate was thwarted by further top spells from Geoff Dibble and Petri Cole and eight wickets fell in 13 overs for 42 runs with Cole finishing with five wickets.

In reply, Darren Drew took two early Roadwater wickets and went on to claim five, but good contributions from Bowman, Cole, David Hill and clayton Vellacott took the score to 120-4 and only three runs needed.

Stoodleigh were then helped by an unlucky dismissal for Cole and with two lbws on the same score Aspey's Chinese cut across the stumps went for 4 to win the game for his side and make up for the bad luck he had with his bowling earlier.

Stoodleigh: 122 (R Turnbull 43, S Andrews 30, P Cole 5-45, G Dibble 2-14).

Roadwater: 124-7 (D Hill 32, B Bowman 23, D Drew 5-35).

Division Two

Taunton v Bridgetown

BRIDGETOWN'S successful league season continued on Saturday when they achieved their 10th victory, this time with a 106 run victory over Taunton, thereby assuring promotion to Division 1.

Bridgetown gave a very solid performance throughout the day, and when they batted Mike Matravers (52) and Miles Richards (42) was the backbone of their innings of 217-8.

Taunton's A Burgess made sure Bridgetown never had it all their own way and bowled well to finish with 4-50.

Only M Brewer (59) coped with the Bridgetown bowling, going on to score over half of their runs.

The home side were dismissed for 111 with Dave Hillier and Mike Sherring claiming three wickets apiece and Tom Gliddon and Chris Garland two.

Bridgetown: 217-8 (M Matravers 52, M Richards 42, J Winzer 26, A Burgess 4-50).

Taunton: 111 (M Brewer 59, D Hillier 3-2, M Sherring 3-35, T Gliddon 2-20, C Garwood 2-22).

Points: Taunton 7 Bridgetown 26.

Division Three

Timberscombe II v Knapp

KNAPP clinched the third division championship with a 57 run win away at Timberscombe on Saturday and with Carhampton winning their game Timberscombe II dropped down to the bottom two.

Electing to bat, Knapp got off to a blistering start being 70-0 after 10 overs and with their first four batsmen, J Bentley, G Whatnall, S Wadham and J Wadham, all making runs a massive total looked likely.

However, the introduction of young Adam Sparks but the brakes on as he took four wickets to help restrict the scoring rate although the final total of 235-7 set a challenging target.

Timberscombe openers Bruce Lang and Phil Hayes got off to a positive start against the pacey opening attack and after Hayes was dismissed and the inform Royston Ball for 16 Nick Hill joined Lang.

They both started going for their shots in an effort to keep up with the run rate but when Lang went for 58 and Hill for 30 any realistic chance of victory was gone.

Timberscombe closed on 178-8 with three wickets for J Wadham and two each for S Wadham and P Denslow.

Knapp: 235-7 (J Bentley 49, G Whatnall 45, S Wadham 40, J Wadham 35, A Sparks 4-49, B Robinson 2-72).

Timberscombe II: 178-8 (B Lang 58, N Hill 30, P Hayes 18, R Ball 16, J Wadham 3-22, S Wadham 2-36, P Denslow 2-37).

Points: Knapp 26 Timberscombe II 8.

Casuals v Carhampton

CARHAMPTON ensured third division cricket next season with a comfortable six wicket win over Casuals away on Saturday.

Casuals were the first to bat on a difficult wicket with only I Tier and C Hadley making any progress against good bowling and fielding by Carhampton.

Dan Gaydon bowled well to take 4-33 and received good support from the ageless Roger Bowkett as Casuals were all out for 125.

Carhampton made a steady start in reply but lost wicket steadily, two through run outs. Chris Milton maintained his good run of form and was undefeated on 54 when the winning runs were hit with the loss of four wickets.

Dan Gaydon hit a quick 27 for Carhampton and I Tier was Casual's best bowler.

Casuals: 125 (I Tier 40, C Hadley 32, D Gaydon 4-33, R Bowkett 3-28).

Carhampton: 129-4 (C Milton 54 no, D Gaydon 27, I Tier 2-38).

Points: Casuals 5 Carhampton 24.

Morebath v Casuals

NINE man Casuals must have wished they had never bothered to turn up at Morebath on Saturday when they lost by 231.

Morebath batted first and Steve Kelland (39) and skipper Kevin Kingdon (45, including five 6s) got them off to a good start but most of the runs in the home side's large total of 329-4 came from a 212 third wicket partnership between Mark Trumps and Ian Hyde, with Trumps finishing on 119 no (19 4s and two 6s) and Hyde on 93.

Only Casuals' opener I Williams seemed to get to grips with the home attack and went on to score 42 as his side were dismissed for 98.

Steve Fisher bowled well for Morebath taking 4-22, all bowled.

Morebath: 329-4 (M Trump 119 no, I Hyde 93, K Kingdon 45, S Kelland 39, I Tier 2-40).

Casuals: I Williams 42, C Hadley 18, S Mangnell 18, S Fisher 4-42).

Points: Morebath 26 Casuals 4.

Division Five

Brompton Ralph III v Trull II

BROMPTON III first of two home games last weekend proved a disaster for them as they lost by nine wickets to Trull II on Saturday.

Brompton batted first and only W Martin (35) made a knock of any consequence as the home side were dismissed for a very poor 69.

D Lake finished with the excellent figures of 4-4 whilst D Ellis also claimed four wickets for Trull.

Trull had no problems in scoring the required runs with T Fienders top scoring with 32 no for them as they reached 71 for the loss of only one wicket.

Brompton Ralph III: 69 (W Martin 35, D Lake 4-4, D Ellis 4-32).

Trull II: 71-1 (T Fienders 32 no, D Green 19 no).

Points: Brompton Ralph III 0 Trull 26.

Brompton Ralph III v

Crowcombe II

BROMPTON III found their game against Crowcombe II on Sunday almost identical to their game the previous day except for one thing, this time the result was in their favour.

Crowcombe batted first and were in all sorts of trouble dealing with the bowling of G Fitt (4-22) and J Lenthal (3-12) and with only three getting into double figures were all out for 114.

Brompton's openers D Takle (70) and M Wright (33) had no such trouble and the winning runs came up in the 17th over.

Crowcombe II: 114 (J Smith 21. S Parry 19, G Fitt 4-22, J Lenthal 3-12, A Poole 2-8).

Brompton Ralph III: 116 (D Takle 70, M Wright 33).

Points: Brompton Ralph III 26 Crowcombe 3.

Ashbrittle II v Minehead A

MINEHEAD A, strengthened by players from their senior teams, easily beat Ashbrittle II away on Saturday by 126 runs.

Minehead batted first and Ian Goodrum carried his bat for 152 which included 25 4s and four 6s and was well supported by Andy Hayes (73), their opening stand of 201 coming to and end in the 35th over when Hayes was run out.

I Harding bowled with pace throughout his spell and was rewarded with two wickets in his last over as Minehead closed on 241-3.

With the wicket giving the occasional variable bounce Minehead were confident in defending their total but Ashbrittle were still in the hunt at 66-2 with K Prescott going well.

However, with the introduction of M Ali into the attack and the wicket of Prescott in his first over, proceedings were turning Minehead's way.

Ali went on to finish with 5-24 from seven overs as Ashbrittle were dismissed for 115 with only P White the other batsmen to offer resistance.

Minehead A: 241-3 (I Goodrum 152 no, A Hayes 73, I Harding 2-72).

Ashbrittle II: 115 (K Prescott 32, P White 20 no, M Ali 5-24).

Points: Ashbrittle 4 Minehead 26.