MINEHEAD got back to winning ways on Saturday with a spectacular rain-affected run chase away at Winscombe in the Premier Division of the Somerset County League.

The hosts won the toss and, to the surprise of Minehead captain Andrew Stevens, elected to bat on what looked a green wicket after heavy rainfall overnight.

Opening bowlers Ellis Taylor and debutant Jack Sully bowled consistently early on with no luck as openers Mcelduff and Shephard batted conservatively whilst punishing anything short or wide.

The two had moved the score on to 50 by the time Dan Bowditch clean bowled Shephard for 23, bringing Cureton to the crease, and after a couple of big shots he was caught behind off the bowling of Gavin Paviour for 16.

Paviour, now into his stride, also accounted for Bradley to a good catch in close by Fred Wilson for a duck.

Meanwhile, Mcelduff had moved past a well-made 50 with some exquisite driving and pulling before Paviour caught and bowled him with an outstanding one-handed diving catch for 60.

Middle order batsmen Goodrum (44) and Clough (20) latched onto some loose deliveries in the middle overs before both were dismissed.

Then with Taylor and Sully back in the attack, the tail struggled to find the boundary and lost wickets at regular intervals, leaving Winscombe all out for 205 with an over to spare.

Paviour was the pick of the bowlers with 3-25 and Sully took 3-44 on debut.

In reply, Minehead openers Stevens and Ian Buchanan got off to a steady start with some tight bowling restricting them to very few scoring opportunities in the first ten overs.

Some poor fielding and a few dropped catches allowed Minehead to reach 60 without loss after 21 overs, but then the skies opened and play was halted for 45 minutes.

At this stage the league rules dictated that Minehead would have to chase the full target off just 36 overs – leaving 146 to win from 15 overs, a feat both sides felt was unlikely.

And it looked even more so when Stevens was adjudged LBW just two overs after the re-start for 38.

That brought Bowditch to the crease and he and Buchanan set about eating into the large total with both finding the boundary before the latter was caught behind off the bowling of Clough for 36.

When Wilson was then caught at mid-wicket for just 7, the Minehead chase looked a lost cause, but Matt Sully came in and provided the injection of pace the innings needed as he and Bowditch started to find the boundary with much more consistency.

Sully hitting a towering six off the bowling of Coe before holing out on the long-on boundary for a quick 24, and although new batsman Ellis Taylor rotated the strike well, a Minehead victory still looked unlikely with 49 runs still needed from five overs.

However, the next two overs yielded six fours and a six from the bat of Bowditch and the target tumbled to 15 from 18 balls.

Two more boundaries and some good running in the next over meant just one run was required and Taylor duly knocked one down the ground to spark celebrations in the Minehead camp.

Minehead won by six wickets with 1.4 overs to spare, picking up the maximum 35 points along the way, and Bowditch finished on 75 not out from 35 balls having hit 13 fours and a six.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Minehead, now in second place, host Taunton Deane hoping for another victory to aid their promotion push.