Bishopston 1st XI (230 all out) beat Frome 1st XI (202 all out) by 28 runs – West of England Premier Div., Sat. 16th May

Frome First XI went down by 28 runs in a tight, hard-fought contest at Bishopston on Saturday 16th May.

After Frome lost the toss and were asked to field first, the home side started brightly with some early boundaries. But Frome’s opening bowlers Neal and Wheeler soon found their stride and looked dangerous. Wheeler made the breakthrough having O’Brien caught behind, before Neal also had Nayanah-Rajh caught behind to leave the score 59-2.

Two further wickets for Wheeler left the home side in some trouble at 72-4 as both bowlers finished tidy 10-over spells.

Bishopston rebuilt their innings through former Gloucestershire pro Hancock, who kept the pressure on Frome’s spinners. By 30 overs the score had moved to 119 with no further wickets lost, and despite Hamblin managing to remove Warner (17) the home side still entered the final 10 overs with a strong platform.

Some big hitting from Hancock – supported by Acton (25) – pushed the score on further, and despite three wickets from David Dredge and two for Craig Dredge, Bishopston posted a competitive 230 all out in the final over.

In reply Frome’s openers Paul Sanger and David Dredge found some early boundaries and moved the score to 43 before Dredge skewed a catch to point for 24. Sanger soon followed for 19, but Bleakley and Smith continued to take the fight to the Bishopston bowlers.

Both batsmen found regular boundaries and, with the field back, manipulated the ball into the gaps and ran hard. Drinks were taken with the score at 104-2 and Frome looked well-placed.

But Smith was then caught at long-off for 27, bringing Dan Dredge to the crease. He carried on where Smith left off together with Bleakley, but again when Frome looked well set, he edged behind for 15.

Frome lost two further wickets, but with 70 needed from the final 10 overs with four wickets in hand were still in with a shout. Bleakley passed 50 and was going to be key, however when Neal was trapped LBW and Bleakley (60) followed shortly after, Frome’s hoped were all but dashed.

A quick-fire 17 from Craig Dredge moved them beyond 200 to give them nine points from the match, but ultimately they came up just short again for the third week in a row.