Game 8: 1st XI vs Bedminster 1st XI, Away

As always, Keith with the report...

Bedminster 1st XI v Bristol 1st XI, WEPL Premier 1, 24 June 2017
Bristol 249-8 (50 overs), J Bracey 106, G Drissell 3-41
Bedminster 250-6 (48.4 overs), S Kamuni 85, R Cunliffe 58no
Bedminster won by 4 wickets

Bedminster emerged victorious from this closely fought fixture at the Clanage, with four wickets and eight balls to spare, thanks to a telling all-round contribution from Sai Kamuni and a nerveless half-century from veteran Rob Cunliffe. Bristol’s innings owed much to a James Bracey century, but the other batsmen were unable to capitalise on the promising foundations he laid: after Bracey was dismissed, the remaining 10.2 overs of the innings produced just 63 more runs. That the second highest score in the innings (jointly with extras) was just 27, tells its own story. In the field, with the exception of Vir Lakhani, who finished with figures of 10-3-30-1, none of the bowlers consistently troubled Bedminster’s batsmen.

After Bristol won their first league toss of the season, at the eighth attempt, and elected to bat, Bracey and Archie Fellowes constructed a half-century opening stand. All but four of Bracey’s first 32 runs were in boundaries, as were all but one of Fellowes’ 17. The latter straight-drove Sillars for two fours in an over, and hit two more in the same bowler’s next over: one straight and one through extra cover.

But after Fellowes was bowled in Kamuni’s first over, the innings subsided to 83 for 3 as first change bowlers Kamunia and Russell applied pressure. After all-too-brief innings by Alan Hunt and Matt Brewer, Jack Ellison got off the mark with a swept four but shortly afterwards was caught behind. Meanwhile Bracey brought up his fifty with his eleventh boundary, driven through extra cover.

Paul Redwood kept Bracey company in a partnership of 80 in just 12 overs, his 287 including some deft late cuts and two pulled fours off Drissell. Bracey moved into the seventies with a six that gained such elevation as it sailed over the deep mid-wicket boundary, that the fielder had no more than a passing interest in it. He launched two more sixes in the same direction before becoming the second LBW victim of six in the match.
Redwood fell in the very next over, and although Will Rudge, Vir Lakhani and Richard Morrison all made valuable late contributions, Bristol finished short of where they had looked to be heading. Morrison’s innings included three free hits. The first two clean bowled him. Off the second he finally connected and found the boundary. Bristol’s innings was also notable for including two no-balls for the keeper, Alfie Jaques, taking the ball in front of the stumps to Kamuni.

The brooding grey skies that threatened all day and occasionally delivered fine drizzle produced something heavier in the last couple of overs of Bristol’s innings, but the shower cleared up during the tea interval and Duckworth Lewis Stern was not brought into play.
Bedminster lost their captain, Elphick in the second over of their innings and his fellow opener Drissell in the third, both LBW. The number four batsman, Sillars, took some time to emerge from the pavilion and must have been close to being timed out. When he was fourth out, caught by Fellowes at deep extra cover off Lakhani, Bedminster were struggling on 76 for 4. But Cunliffe and Kamuni turned the game around, putting on 119, Kamuni hitting three sixes and nine fours in his 85. He finally contrived to reverse sweep Neil Pollard on to his off stump, having hit a four with the same shot earlier in the over.

The retrieval of the ball after one of Kamuni’s sixes gave Alan Hunt sufficient time to answer a call of nature in an adjacent hedgerow. After the same fielder’s changing in the car park the previous week, and the swapping of the wicket-keeper’s pads at Bridgwater, it is good to see that some of the traditions of village cricket are still alive and well at Bristol Cricket Club.

Bristol applied some pressure late in the innings, Jones bowling aggressively and hitting Cunliffe on the shoulder. But with 42 still needed, Bristol failed to take their last chance as Jack Ellison, running around the deep mid-wicket boundary, made good ground couldn’t quite cling on to a difficult skyer from Cunliffe’s bat. Bristol made only one further breakthrough to gain a third bowling point, and Bedminster thoroughly deserved their first league win of the season.