1st XI - Game 7 - Bristol 208/8, Taunton St Andrews 148

Bristol v Taunton St Andrews, WEPL Premier 1, 16 June 2018
Bristol 208-8, J Bracey 73, W Tavare 43, J Bruke 3-25
Taunton St Andrews 148 (42.2 overs), D Payne 3-24, L Shaw 2-33
Bristol won by 60 runs

Bristol were grateful to their three Gloucestershire players for the performances on which this comfortable win against Taunton St Andrews was built. James Bracey led the way, as ever, with an 87-ball 73 (1 six and 8 fours). Then Will Tavare accumulated 43 off 75 balls, with just a single boundary, standing firm amidst a middle-order collapse, as Tom Banton and Justin Burke bowled twenty overs in tandem for combined figures of 4-57. David Payne, on his Bristol debut, then excelled with the ball - once he had found his preferred end - helping to reduce the visitors to 58-4, a position from which they never fully recovered.
Will Rudge won the toss and elected to bat on a chilly, overcast day. Blustery showers caused two short interruptions during the Bristol innings, the first after just eight balls, and another extended the tea interval slightly, but the delays were not sufficient to require the intervention of Messrs Duckworth, Lewis and Stern.
After the early loss of Trenouth, James Bracey was joined by Will Young, and for a while it looked like they might be gearing up for a repeat of their heroics against Bath a fortnight previously. Bracey’s off drives were working particularly smoothly, bringing him 5 fours and a three inside the first ten overs. Young was fortunate that a top-edged pull didn’t go to hand when just into his twenties and looked to be moving up a gear when he slog-swept the spinner Bell for two fours in the space of three balls. But in the next over he played on when aiming an expansive drive and the partnership was terminated at 65.
Bracey reached his fifty shortly afterwards with a clean blow for six behind square on the leg-side off Lloyd Alley, then disdainfully slapped the same bowler through cover for four. The ball was getting wet at this stage after the second rain interruption and Tavare was content just to give Bracey the strike, his first nine runs coming in singles.
But 135-2 in the 28th over became 144-5 just 19 balls later as Bracey skied a catch to mid-on off Burke, Shaw played and missed at three balls from Banton then was caught behind off the fourth, and Brewer was bowled by Burke, to the batsman’s apparent disbelief. Payne joined Tavare, and the pair stopped the rot, but the scoring rate fell off a cliff: from around five an over off the first 20, it dropped briefly to below fours during the second mini-collapse, which saw Payne, Tavare and Probert all depart in the space of 27 balls for the addition of just seven runs. But some lusty blows from Rudge, supported by Ashleigh Joyner, saw Bristol to their fourth batting point, and what proved to be a comfortably sufficient total.
Bristol didn’t start well in the field, dropping three catches within the first eight overs and watching Tom Banton crack Tommy Probert to the point boundary off successive balls. The ball after the third of the spilled chances, Payne, having switched to the pavilion end, where he looked more comfortable, took the fielders’ fallibilities out of the equation by bowling Ed Byrom. The openers’ partnership of 37 proved to be the highest of the Taunton St Andrews innings as Bristol took regular wickets and didn’t allow their opponents to build any sort of foundation for a successful chase.
Payne removed Regan LBW, then Probert chipped in with the wicket of Banton caught behind low down by Bracey. When Tavare took a spectacular catch leaping in the air at square leg to remove Alley and give Payne his third wicket, Taunton St Andrews were at their nadir of 58-4. Cooper and Contreras put on thirty in seven overs to recover the situation somewhat. Probert deceived Cooper numerous times but all he had to show for it were a couple of edged fours to the third man boundary.
But 88-4 became 93-6 when Cooper was caught behind by Bracey standing up to Joyner, and Trenouth, incredibly nonchalantly, caught Contreras above his head at short mid-wicket off Shaw. Poole was given a life by Bracey when on two, off Joyner, and set about building another mini-recovery with Bell, but when this partnership has reached 31, he edged Shaw to Bracey who redeemed his earlier error.
Lakhani, introduced into the attack for the first time in the 34th over, induced Hayman to hit his first ball up in the air towards deep mid-off where Young safely held the catch. In Lakhani’s next over, Bell was run out, attempting an impertinent run as Burke dropped the ball on the leg-side: Bracey’s throw to the non-striker’s end comfortably beating the batsman back. Wadham and Burke held up the inevitable for seven overs, but in the end it was another farcical run-out, this time of Wadham with Bracey again the fielder, that gifted Bristol their victory.