Having been inserted by their hosts, Lodway lost a wicket early as Tobias Rice dragged his second ball from Eoin Godfrey (1-18) onto his stumps to fall for a duck, before Adam Robson and Ben Stitfall again combined to stabilise the ship. However, once Stitfall was caught and bowled by George Wood (1-31) for 38, shortly before the bowler was forced to leave the field with an impact injury, the Lodway batsman found run-scoring harder against the Lansdown change bowlers. Combative leg-spinner Sam Bowery (0-22) was unlucky not to claim a wicket, but Wood’s mid-over replacement, Sam Avery, made himself impossible for skipper Dan Veal to take off, as he cut a swath through the middle order, dismissing Caolan Pearce (3), Ewan Mason (11) and Ryan Rice (4) to finish with 3-15 from his 7.2 overs, with Adam Robson watching on from the other end. Robson and Rendell combined in a 6th wicket partnership that saw Robson bring up his third half-century of the season, although when Rendell fell for 15 the ball after hitting a towering six that almost killed a sleeping baby on the boundary, and Robson fell in the next over to Vijay Krishna (1-47) for a resilient 64, Lodway were in danger of failing to reach par. However, Lodway’s lower-order were helped by some erratic bowling from Ollie Kohut (2-35), with left-handers Stephen Edmonds (20*, including a pair of sweetly-struck maximums) and returning skipper Joe Crutchley (9*) falling just one short of maximum batting points as Lodway closed on 199-8.

After the interval, it looked as if Lodway players had over-indulged on the best tea of the season so far, as Lansdown openers Tejas Bante and Avery raced to almost 50, helped by a number of wides from the Rice brothers operating again in tandem, although Tobias made the first breakthrough when he bowled Avery for 17. First change bowler Stitfall (1-42) was next to strike, with Robson taking a sharp, one-handed catch in the cordon to send Bante back for 10. Number 3 Will Sutcliffe hit a number of boundaries to keep Lansdown up with the rate, and, when he was bowled by Joe Crutchley (1-23) for 32, this fixture’s nemeses for Lodway, Dan Veal and Sam Athay, came together to see their side home, with only 5-an-over required from the second half of the innings. With a looming partnership building, skipper Crutchley brought back Tobias Rice with the last throw of his dice, and Rice’s reintroduction paid immediate dividends as he hit the top of Veal’s off-stump to send the home captain back for 28 before bowling Athay (19) off the left-hander’s pads to finish with 3-20 and drag Lodway back into the game. Belligerent Bowery fell next, caught at long off by Stitfall off Matty Critchley for 4, and, when Krishna was run out from the deep cover boundary by Joe Crutchley, with Wood confirmed not to bat, Lodway were back in the ascendancy with only 2 wickets required and 33 runs still to get from the last 5 overs. However, Lodway’s age-old weakness of wides and no balls reared its head yet again, as Rendell was removed from the attack as a result, with Kohut and Ollie Gooding also finding boundaries at regular intervals, and, when Gooding was caught behind by Edmonds off Matty Crutchley for 16 in the penultimate over, only 2 runs were required for the win from the last over, even though one wicket would do it for Lodway. Kohut kept his composure in the last over bowled by Stitfall, choosing to defend the first two balls, before lofting the third back over the bowler’s head for 6, to end on 23*, and to take his side to within 7 points at the top of the Division 1 table after 8 games.

Lodway finish the first half of the season hosting 3rd-placed Claverham at Ham Green on Saturday, hoping to concede fewer than a half-century of extras next time around.