Six straight wins for Lansdown 1st XI as table-top showdown looms

Lansdown 1st XI won for the sixth game running in West of England Premier Cricket League Premier Two Bristol/Somerset to keep the pressure on leaders Midsomer Norton with three rounds of matches to go.

Lansdown 1st XI beat Weston-super-Mare for their sixth successive West of England Premier League win

The Down – unbeaten in the league since they lost at Congresbury on Saturday 28th June – lie in second place, 33 points behind Norton. The top two will lock horns at Withies Lane on 23rd August, the penultimate Saturday of the campaign.

Lansdown’s latest success was an 84-run demolition of Weston-super-Mare at Combe Park on Saturday 9th August.

Choosing to take first knock, the hosts were shot out for 219.

Skipper and opener Jordan Smith made 37 – but when he departed, Lansdown were 65-3 from 12.1 overs.

Luke Charlesworth (37) and Noah Davis added 61 for the fourth wicket, and Dan Lezar made 29 batting at number seven. Lezar and Davis put on 57 for the sixth wicket.

The Down progressed to 216-6 – but then Davis was trapped in front by Lachie Bailey for a 79-ball, 12-boundary 73 and it marked the start of a dramatic collapse.

In the space of six deliveries they lost four wickets and were dismissed in 43 overs, Bailey swooping for 3-42 off nine overs.

Harvey Richards weighed in with 2-43 from nine overs and Tahmid Ahmed returned 2-44 in seven overs.

Weston crashed to 5-3 off 2.1 overs in response, Josh Smith ousting Bailey, Richards and Shabel Ahmed in the space of seven balls.

Chasing a revised target of 215 in 38 overs, the seasiders slumped to 70-8 from 18.6 overs and were skittled for 130.

Smith finished with 4-21 off eight overs and Sam Pearce snapped up 3-31 in six overs.

There were 18 extras in Weston’s 25.3-over stay at the crease, number five Tahmid Ahmed the best of the batters with 33 from 49 balls.

Number nine Eden Wardle made 28 off 22 deliveries, putting on 30 with final batter Matt Knight (16 not out).

Lansdown will visit lowly Bishopston in the league on Saturday 16th August.