MINEHEAD First XI travelled to Lympsham Sports Ground last Saturday on the hottest day of the year, looking to complete the double over their third-placed rivals Somerset Cricket League Premier Division - but they eventually went down in a high-scoring game.

Dan Bowditch won the toss and chose to bat, the first time Minehead had done so since Taunton Deane away over a month ago. Ian Buchanan and Andrew Stevens got things off to a fast start, thanks to some wayward bowling in the early exchanges. The Lympsham ground looked to be a high scoring one, with some short boundaries and lightning fast outfield, but some variable bounce was also in play for the bowlers.

The score had reached 49 when Stevens edged behind for five, which brought Josh Hurley to the crease to join Buchanan, who took the score past 100, with Buchanan reaching his third 50 of the season. At this point a huge total looked to be on the cards for the Pirates, but they then lost Buchanan (61) and Hurley (21) in quick succession to see Minehead 116-3 in the 19th over.

Bowditch and Braden Taylor kept things ticking along and took the score above 150, but the Lympsham bowlers began to fight back as Taylor was LBW for 12, and not long after Bowditch was well caught for a hard hit 45 from just 48 balls.

This sparked a middle order collapse as Gary Bennett, Marc Girling, and Connor Paterson all fell for just 19 runs - leaving Minehead 209-8 heading into the final five overs. Chris James was batting well among the carnage at the other end, as he began a late order push, scoring a vital 37 runs including three towering sixes, and the innings was capped off by Alfie Rucklidge who scored 14 from just 10 balls, before number 11 Harry Tudball thumped his first ball for six, finishing 18 not out from just six deliveries, to allow Minehead to post a competitive 262.

Minehead knew that despite a big total on the board, early wickets would be key - and although Lympsham hit some early boundaries, they got exactly that when Bowditch took a fine catch in the gully to remove Luff without scoring,. Tudball was soon celebrating again as he clean bowled Cox in his next over to see Lympsham 34-2. The score had reached 50 but Tudball soon knocked over his third victim when he bowled Hosey for 27.

Bennett joined in the act at the other end by bowling Golding for four, to see the hosts fall to 67-4. However for the next 15 overs Minehead were forced to toil as captain Howson and next man McCrea batted exceptionally well to take the score to 190 without further loss.

With 70 required Bennett gave Minehead some hope by bowling Mccrea for a well made 57 . But the day belonged to Jamie Howson who played a fantastic captain’s innings to lead his side home for the loss of only five wickets, finishing 111 not out - a brilliant effort through the heat of the day.

Minehead threw everything they had at Lympsham but fell short, picking up 15 points from the day and move on to this week’s game at home to Wembdon, where a victory will be much needed after back to back defeats.