With the title already in the bag, Bristol kept alive the prospect of going through the entire league season unbeaten with a convincing victory over Downend by 72 runs. Returning skipper Will Rudge lost the toss and his team was asked to bat on another warm Failand afternoon. Miles Kantolinna resumed where he had left off two weeks ago, brushing off the previous game’s disappointment. He contributed 22 of the opening partnership of 44 in seven overs, which ended when Nic Halstead-Cleak appeared somewhat disgruntled to be given out LBW to Eddie Dryell.

Mitch Renwick, playing his first game after six weeks out with a shoulder injury, gloved his second ball from Matt Jackson just wide of second slip. While Renwick thereafter gradually shook of some understandable rustiness, Kantolinna appeared unstoppable, racing to fifty off 55 balls with eight fours, of which a square cut guided smoothly through cover point was the highlight. He looked in no trouble at all until he unexpectedly nicked one to the ‘keeper two balls after reaching his half-century.

By this time Renwick had picked up two consecutive fours through extra cover off Callum Loud, and in Loud’s next over he went one better with a six over mid-wicket followed by another extra cover drive for four. Renwick, although still somewhat restricted by his shoulder, looked set for a big score, but he was the second batsman of the day to be dismayed to see the umpire’s finger raised after being struck on the pads by Loud when four short of his half-century.

Archie Fellowes fell in the same over, caught by Olly Sharp at slip to leave Bristol 143 for 4 off 28 overs. Josh Shaw kept the scoreboard ticking with two sixes and two fours in his 28, but he was well caught by a diving Luke Coles at square leg.

This brought Rishi Panchal to the crease to join Louie Shaw, who had unleashed a glorious cover drive for his first boundary but had thereafter proceeded cautiously. They shared in a partnership of 93 off 70 balls, with Panchal the dominant partner for much of the time. His deployed the late cut to particular effect, but he hit six fours to all points of the compass, and a six over mid-wicket, racing to fifty off 41 balls. Shaw finished top-scorer on 70 from 85 balls, with five 4s and a six, and barely a dot ball after the mid-point of his innings. He fell, caught behind off Ollie Louch, in the antepenultimate over, and while the remainder of the innings was not as productive as Bristol would have liked, a score of 291 for 6 set a challenging benchmark for a Downend side still not completely clear of the relegation zone.

The visitors made a solid start, their openers sharing a partnership of 62 off 15 overs as Tommy Probert was given the unfamiliar honour of bowling down the hill while Josh Shaw trudged in up it. They would have had a few more except for some exceptional Bristol fielding. A leaping stop by Louie Shaw on the cover boundary that saved two runs off the first ball of the final over of Probert’s opening spell, and a sliding stop by Josh Shaw at fine leg next ball that did likewise, being two examples, matched by a stunning one-handed stop in the gully by Will Rudge later on.

One wicket often brings two, and in this case it brought three, two of them almost identical dismissals. Patrick Grieshaber cut Rudge into the hands of Louie Shaw at backward point for a 44-ball 43, and three overs later Nathan Roberts went in similar fashion to Ed McIntyre for a duck. In between, Luke Coles, who had grafted his way to 10 from 53 balls, was LBW to McIntyre.

A flurry of boundaries from Loud and Dan Semple kept the asking rate below seven an over as the mid-point of the innings neared, but Loud just failed to clear McIntyre at mid-on, who took a one-handed catch above his head to give Rudge a second wicket. Louie Shaw had Olly Sharp LBW before Panchal and Kantolinna applied the squeeze to the sixth wicket pair. Four overs yielded just eight singles and culminated in Dan Semple guiding a ball from Kantolinna into the hands of Renwick at slip as if giving catching practice.

From 139 for 6 it was merely a question of how many batting points Downend would be able to collect. In the end they comfortably made it to four, and finished just six runs short of a fifth, thanks largely to some lusty blows from Matt Jackson towards the end. Rudge, McIntyre, Panchal and Kantolinna each finished with two wickets apiece at around four runs an over, and Louie Shaw, despite being far from his best with the ball, also nipped in with a second as Jackson edged the last ball of the forty-ninth over to the ‘keeper to seal Bristol’s win.