At the end of a hot, sunny week, Claverham had no hesitation in batting first, and the brothers Rice again struggled for accuracy, as the visitors made a strong start, racing to 43-1 from the first six overs, even though Ryan Rice managed to dismiss dangerous Claverham skipper James Copeland for just 6 in the second over; caught by Ewan Mason at midwicket. Tobias Rice struck in his 4th and 5th overs, bowling Lloyd Richardson for 18 from 12 and then Callum Watts for 0 to leave Claverham 45-3. The introduction of change bowlers Ben Stitfall and home captain Joe Crutchley changed the complexion of the game, as the Claverham batsmen found run-scoring increasingly difficult, with Stitfall (1-18 from 8) forcing Thomas Gamble to drive to Tom Marsh at short extra cover for 3, as Guy Fisher joined becalmed opener Olly Ralph in the middle. Fisher in particular was unable to find any gaps, eventually falling for 1 from 24 balls to a catch at the square of two midwickets from Rice T from Crutchley J, and, when James Bird fell two balls later to a Stitfall catch at mid-off to earn Joe Crutchley 2-12 from his 8, Claverham found themselves 73-6 and in danger of failing to set a challenging target. With Ralph at the crease, however, the threat of a good score was still present, and Tobias Rice was reintroduced into the attack to snuff out the visitors’ remaining hopes, which he did in stirring fashion, clean bowling Adam Hadfield for 1, before veteran gloveman Stephen Edmonds rolled back the years to snare Ralph with a full-length diving catch down the leg side; Ralph walking off in disbelief after a 78-ball 38 at 80-8 as Tobias Rice ended on 4-31. Matty Crutchley (1-11) was next to strike, getting Matty Gregory to loft to his brother Joe at mid-off, and it was left to Alfie Rendell (1-0) to close off the innings as left-handed Harry White (8) found Caolan Pearce at mid-on to end the innings at exactly 100.

After an early tea, Caolan Pearce was sent out to open the innings with Adam Robson, fresh from the young left-hander’s half-century in the losing cup effort at Claverham just a few weeks before, and the visiting bowlers struggled to put the opening pair under any sort of pressure, even though the normally quick-scoring Robson’s first runs weren’t scored until the 9th over. However, once Robson started to find the middle of the bat, he started to catch Pearce up, and drinks were taken after 15 overs with the score on 68-0. Pearce soon brought up his 44-ball half-century at the start of the 19th over, and the contest was over 7 balls later as Pearce found yet another boundary over mid on to seal the maximum point victory with a 49-ball 59* as Robson watched on at the other end with 39* to his name to bring an end to the first half of the season.

Lodway begin the second half of the season with a home game v Keynsham at Ham Green on Saturday, hoping that they can maintain their title push as the season moves into the last two months.