A match round-up by Hampset Cricket Club – Saturday 9th August.
Hampset 3rd XI raced to a seven-wicket success against Bitton 2nd XI on Saturday 9th August
Hampset 3rd XI needed just 12.1 overs to reach the target set by Bitton 2nd XI in Bristol & District Cricket Association Division Nine East on Saturday 9th August.
Bitton won the toss and elected to bat first at Bloomfield Rise. This was no great surprise, as the South Gloucestershire side have picked up the majority of their bonus points for batting.
Hampset captain Jack Hughes decided to start with experience to try to bag some early wickets.
So with a combined age of 93 years, Tom Hutchings and Chris Kindon opened the attack.
Tight early overs from both built pressure and the first wicket arrived in the seventh over, Hutchings bowling the Bitton number two for 7.
Kindon then picked up the wicket of the other opener in the 10th over, thanks to a fantastic catch in the deep by Louis Bishop.
Two wickets – both clean bowled – in two balls from Hutchings in the next over left Bitton reeling at 34-4.
With Kindon and Hutchings bowled out, Bitton recovered by doubling their score to 68. Then James Clark decided that bowling straight and full was the way forward. The result was Clark bowled the Bitton number four for 9.
Sam Taylor-Weekes, bowling some excellent lines and at good pace, then grabbed two wickets in two overs. He bowled the opposition number six – who top-scored with 17 – and then removed the number eight for a duck via a Jon Wright catch at mid-wicket.
That flurry of wickets left Bitton 78-7 at the end of the 23rd over.
Wright replaced Clark and soon claimed his first scalp, bowling the Bitton number seven for 14.
Some more great work in the field by Bishop, combining with keeper Ollie Hutchings, resulted in a run-out that accounted for the number 10.
Some resistance from the Bitton skipper, batting at 11, took the score into three digits. Then Wright took his second wicket of the day, bowling the young number nine who had batted for 24 balls for his 4.
Bitton were all out for 100, the best of the Hampset bowlers being Tom Hutchings (8-2-17-3), Taylor-Weekes (5-3-5-2) and Wright (4.5-1-18-2).
Hughes and Kindon took their usual places at the top of the Hampset batting order, and the former in particular looked in a hurry.
The first 11 balls produced 19 runs before Hughes feathered one behind to be dismissed for 17.
Taylor-Weekes arrived at number three and was watchful early in his innings.
A mix-up between Kindon and Taylor-Weekes resulted in the former being run out for 2, leaving Hampset 28-2 in under four overs.
Charlie Dolman entered the fray and hit his first ball to the boundary. He and Taylor-Weekes batted well together and added 30 across six overs before Dolman was dismissed for 9, chipping one back to the bowler. The scoreboard now read 58-3.
Next at the crease was John Dolman, who could not help but glance at the short boundary on one side. He and Taylor-Weekes decided to win the match quickly.
Taylor-Weeks cut and drove the ball to the boundary several times, and his partner dispatched the leather over the rope on a couple of occasions.
The win arrived at 101-3, Taylor-Weekes finishing with 43 not out from 37 balls and Dolman closing with an unbeaten 19 off eight deliveries.
Hampset’s victory was their seventh in the league this year. Their man of the match was Taylor-Weekes for his all-round performance with bat and ball.
Next up for Hampset 3rd XI is a Saturday 16th August trip to Chilcompton Sports 2nd XI, where the Bath side will look to solidify their very respectable fifth place in the league.
Meanwhile, Hampset 2nd XI were without a match on Saturday 9th August. They will return to Bristol & District Cricket Association Division Seven East action on Saturday 16th August, at Saltford Fairway.
