Faced with a soft, heavily-watered pitch on a ground where run-scoring has always proved challenging, visiting skipper Joe Crutchley made the brave call to bat first, backing his strong, in-form batting line-up to set a defendable target.

As expected, the slowness of the pitch and uneven bounce made batting a struggle, with Tobias Rice again the first to fall as he edged Liam Hosford (1-45) behind for 2, and it was again left to second wicket pair of Adam Robson and Ben Stitfall to accumulate by making the most of the frequent loose deliveries and short boundary on the tennis court side, reaching 95-1 at the first drinks break, with the partisan home fans considering Robson lucky to survive a number of close LBW calls. Shortly after drinks, however, Stitfall fell to Jon Strand for 32, leaving Lodway 98-2, and it became 105-3 after Ryan Rice failed to cope with the pressure and picked out the boundary rider, trudging off with a 13-ball duck to his name. Robson brought up his impressive half-century one run later, but, after reaching 61 with 7x4 and 3x6, he was adjudged LBW against Martin Richards (1-13 from 8), leaving the field with Lodway in a strong position of 117-4 with 16 overs in hand. However, the competitive Strand (4-49) had other ideas, dismissing Paul Stubbs and Alfie Rendell for ducks in the next over, and, at 117-6, Timsbury felt they were back in the game, with the 130 par score for the pitch suddenly looking a long way off. Fortunately for Lodway, veteran Stephen Edmonds was in no mood to surrender meekly, and he and Ewan Mason saw the visitors to the 30th over in their contrasting styles, which were equally frustrating for Timsbury, although Mason fell to Freddie Hosford (1-34) on the stroke of the second drinks break for 9 to leave Lodway 141-7 with 10 overs to go. 8th wicket pairing Edmonds and Matty Crutchley were given clear instructions by the captain at drinks to take 5 overs to get to the next batting point at 150, but they were in insubordinate moods, reaching that milestone in the 32nd over, and combining in a 27-ball 38-run boundary-filled partnership that was only ended when Gary Pearcy had Crutchley caught and bowled for 20. Edmonds also fell in the same Pearcy (2-14) over for 22, and it was left to the last wicket pair of Joe Crutchley and Tom Metcalfe-Smith (1*) to take Lodway to the unimaginable heights of 200, Crutchley falling in the last over to David Ford (1-32) for 10, as Lodway left the field at tea on 201 all out.

Lodway players took the field in confident fashion after the interval, but in the knowledge that they’d need to bowl and field well for the full 40 overs to keep Timsbury below the target, although the first over of the reply was beyond the hopes of even the most passionate member of the visiting fan club. With his second ball, Tobias Rice had Timsbury’s star left-hander Mark Sage sharply caught by Metcalfe-Smith, and, three balls later, Edmonds took an ungainly catch behind the stumps to leave the hosts 0-2. Having witnessed the carnage at the other end, remaining opening batsman Strand felt attack was the best method, taking Joe Crutchley for a pair of hard-struck sweeps, before falling to a leading edge that Edmonds took easily to leave Timsbury 16-3 in the 4th over. In Crutchley’s next over, Paul Cracknell drove to Robson at short extra-cover, before home skipper Jesse Bishop gave the best representation of his team’s scrambled mental state, being bowled by his counterpart second ball to give Crutchley (3-39) his third wicket and leave the hosts 30-5 after just 6 overs. Pearcy tried to counter-attack with a number of leg-side boundaries, but his luck was to run out in the 9th over, bowled by Rice, as he lost his off stump for 15, before Ford left his second ball that seamed back to hit the top of his off-stump: 40-7. Youngsters Freddie Hosford and Cory Versfeld at least stopped the rot for a few overs, embarrassing their more senior teammates, but Rice was not to be denied his 5-wicket haul as the attacking field of 2 slips and 2 gullies bore fruit in the 13th over when Versfeld edged to Joe Crutchley at second slip as Timsbury slumped to 50-8. Rice was unable to find another breakthrough as he ended his amazing 8-over spell with 5-23, and brothers Hosford then had some fun in a 21-run 9th wicket partnership that was the highest of the innings. In the end, it was left to the change bowlers to seal victory, with Liam Hosford (11) picking out Paul Stubbs at backward square-leg off Metcalfe-Smith (1-0 from 1), and Freddie Hosford then driving Matty Crutchley (1-6) to Tobias Rice as he was dismissed for 19 as Timsbury slumped to a disastrous 71ao shortly after their 2nd XI had edged a one-wicket victory back at Ham Green.

On Saturday, Lodway cross the Avonmouth bridge to their northern neighbours at Shirehampton, hoping to start June as they ended May.