Lodway 1st XI rose to the top of the early Division 1 table on Saturday with a hard-fought 16-run victory against Hanham at Abbotts Road.

Having lost another toss, Lodway found themselves inserted on a fresh pitch under leaden skies, with the Met Office giving little chance of a full game’s play, and Adam Robson (8) bludgeoned an early Ross Edwards delivery to mid off as if he wasn’t expecting much more play. When number 3 Ben Stitfall fell to a leading edge from Jack Alway for 4, Lodway found themselves 26-2. Paul Stubbs joined Tobias Rice in the middle, and the former played in his inimitable cavalier style, driving Hanham to distraction with a number of near misses, as he and Rice pushed towards a half-century partnership. That milestone was not to be reached, however, as Rice fell to Edwards (2-35) for 35 on 74, but Stubbs and Caolan Pearce took the score past 100 before Stubbs’ luck finally ran out as Ryan Aingworth breached his defences for 35, with Stubbs appearing unkeen to leave the crease. Pearce was the next to fall, to Luke Stone (1-18) for a hard-earned 9, before the middle-order of Ryan Rice (22) and Alex Tierney (27) propelled Lodway towards a challenging total. However, from 173-6, Tierney’s dismissal triggered a quick end to proceedings, as the much-vaunted lower order of Stephen Edmonds (0), Matty Crutchley (0) and Joe Crutchley (1) had no answer to the returning Alway (3-25) and Aingworth (3-22), leaving Alfie Rendell (13*) out of partners as the innings closed at 179ao.

After a short tea break, home openers Will Paget and Luke Stone began steadily and with little risk against the Lodway opening combination of Tobias Rice and Joe Crutchley (0-27). With drinks taken at 76-0, a home victory appeared inevitable, but there was something in the Team Tangfastics, as, in the first over after drinks, Edmonds effected a sharp leg-side stumping of his fellow left-handed ‘keeper Will Paget (48) off Stitfall (1-35) to spark a Lodway revival. With Tierney bowling a tight spell at the other end, the rest of the Hanham top order determined that the only path to victory was to hit the bemulleted off-spinner out of the attack, but they only managed to pick out the fielders in the deep, as Tierney claimed 3-32, including opener Stone for 44 to leave the hosts 114-4 with 10 overs to go and 66 still required. With Matty Crutchley now operating at the Horse Box end, the Hanham middle-order struggled to lay bat on the young paceman as the rate began to climb, especially when he dismissed James Pocock (10), and Tobias Rice (1-39) returned to dismiss Ben Brown (9) thanks to a sharp catch by Robson prowling at midwicket. Seventh-wicket pairing Frankie Pankhurst (perhaps batting at 7 under suffrage) and Ryan Aingworth threatened to wrestle the momentum back Hanham’s way with a 25-run partnership, with Pankhurst keen to walk down to the bowling until Edmonds stood up to Crutchley and earned himself a bruised chest for his efforts, with the partnership only ending by another Robson catch, this time off Matty Crutchley (2-20), to dismiss Aingworth (9), leaving Pankhurst 21 to get from the final over. However, with Edmonds standing up to Rendell, and Rendell finding the perfect line and length, only 4 runs came from the last, leaving Lodway to savour a great team win.

Next week the 1st XI return to Ham Green to host Cleeve in an early table-topping clash, with much better weather forecast (by both Apple and Met Office).