MINEHEAD eased to another victory on Saturday when they beat Winscombe by 89 runs and they now lead the Premier Division by 54 points with just three games remaining.

After winning the toss, Minehead had no problem in deciding to bat on a typically flat wicket and quick outfield, and openers Ian Buchanan and Andrew Stevens, despite some lively seam bowling, started brightly with some crisp boundaries in the early overs.

They had moved the score onto 38 by the time Buchanan tickled one behind for 26 and Alastair Harrison fell for just ten in the same manner a couple of overs later.

That brought Bradley Martin to the crease to join his captain and they set about building a partnership against the visitors’ change bowlers.

Stevens was first past fifty, his fifth of the season, as he struck an effortless six over mid-off, and Martin reached the same milestone an over later.

But the partnership soon ended on 104 concluded when Stevens was caught behind for 54, and the in-form Fred Wilson quickly followed for just two.

Dan Bowditch joined Martin, who by now was well into his stride, powering his team towards the 200 mark with more exquisite timing, and after Bowditch was bowled for 16 Martin brought up a fine century with another textbook cover drive for four.

Matt Sully (21) and Greg Howard (11) helped him going into the last five overs with a couple boundaries each, and it wasn’t until the penultimate over that Martin finally fell for a magnificent 132 from just 91 deliveries which included 20 fours, and Minehead closed on 293-8 from their 45 overs.

With a hefty total to chase, Winscombe got off to a disastrous start when Ellis Taylor clean bowled opener Bawden for two with the fifth ball of the innings.

Fellow opening bowler Jay Darrell, off the back of six wickets the previous week, was also bowling with confidence and creating chances of his own, but it was Taylor who struck again when he induced the edge of no 3 Cureton for just three.

With the pressure building, it looked as though the hosts had made another vital breakthrough when Darrell found the edge of danger man McElduff’s bat but the overseas batsman didn’t walk, a decision which riled the Minehead players even more when he admitted to hitting it just an over later.

Now on his second chance, he and Hutchinson started to rebuild the Winscombe innings with the former showing why he is so dangerous, playing some flowing drives and cuts as he launched into anything loose form the Minehead bowlers.

The introduction of spinner Buchanan provided the threat which Minehead needed and it wasn’t long before he broke the partnership on 86 when he had Hutchinson well stumped by Howard for 24.

Goodrum came and went, clean bowled by the same bowler for six, and when McElduff nicked through to the keeper on 79 his team’s hopes of winning trudged off with him as they stared at defeat on 160-5.

Only skipper Coe (47) offered any further resistance as Darrell returned to the attack to mop up the tail in familiar fashion and finish with 4-54. Buchanan ended with 4-51 and Winscombe were all out 89 runs short on 222, with Minehead picking up the maximum 35 points for the seventh game in a row.

They travel to Taunton Deane tomorrow (Saturday) where another win will almost certainly guarantee promotion into the West Of England Premier League.