MINEHEAD stretched their lead at the top of the Somerset League’s Premier Division with an emphatic 123-run win away to struggling Bagborough on Saturday.

After they won the toss and elected to bat, the ever-reliable pairing of Ian Buchanan and captain Andrew Stevens got them off to a speedy start, with Buchanan striking a six in just the second over of the game.

Runs became harder to come by however as the Bagborough bowlers settled into their spells and it wasn’t long before Buchanan had chopped on to a wide delivery from G Scutt for 18.

Further tight overs restricted the batsmen to very few scoring opportunities in the firs 15 overs and Alastair Harrison was next to fall for 14.

The in-form Freddie Wilson managed to hit spinner Bishop for a six but didn’t last long as he was clean bowled by Chiplin for 20, and when Stevens was well caught at mid-wicket for a watchful 40, closely followed by Braden Taylor for just 4, it looked as though Minehead were going to struggle to post a competitive score.

But Brad Martin and Dan Bowditch set about rebuilding the innings, rotating the strike well, and Martin in particular found the boundary with ease as he cruised to a timely 50 off as many balls.

The partnership had moved to 93 and Bowditch was finding some timing of his own by the time Martin was caught at deep square leg for 66.

Greg Howard then fell for a duck and Dan Godfrey for 5 as Bowditch passed 50 with a four through the leg side.

He was joined by no 10 Jay Darrell. who added 20 as they took their team to a commanding total of 294-8, Bowditch finishing 76 not out from 56 balls.

With nothing to lose, Bagborough openers Bishop and L Scutt started aggressively, with opening bowlers Ellis Taylor and Darrell struggling to combat their flamboyant stroke play as they found the boundary eight times within the first six overs.

A change of bowling worked for Minehead as Bowditch bowled the seventh over, a wicket maiden, as he had Scutt caught at cover for 31 with the score on 54.

Darrell found, more control and the two put the brakes on the Bagborough counter attack and it wasn’t long before Darrell found the edge of Bishop’s bat to have him caught behind for 32 and finish with 1-37 form his nine overs.

The re-introduction of Taylor (0-48) along with Buchanan (3-36) further piled the pressure on the Bagborough middle order and wickets began to fall at regular intervals, with only no 3 J Taylor offering any resistance until run out in calamitous fashion for 40.

It then took Martin (4-24) just three overs to clean up the last four batsmen, who could only muster two runs between them, and Bagborough were all out for 171, giving Minehead the maximum 35 points for the fifth successive game.

They host third-place Uphill Castle tomorrow (Saturday) hoping to tighten their hold on top spot and continue their push for promotion.