1st XI - Game 17 - Bedminster 160, Bristol 161/9

Bristol emerged from their recent slump to complete their first league victory since 14th July and their first of the season chasing down a target. The margin was just one wicket and the latter stages were tense, but Bristol owed their triumph to the sublime batting and cool head of Will Tavare, who stood out in a class of his own. His 76 was nearly double the next highest score on either side, and James Bracey was the only other Bristol batsman to register a double figure score. Coming in at 19 for 2 in the seventh over, Tavare saw his team to within five runs of their target.
His dismissal for a 101-ball 76, LBW to Mark Alleyne trying to work the ball through the leg-side for a boundary that would have levelled the scores, meant the game would have a final twist, and a touch of farce to cap it off. Bristol’s last man Dan Jones came to the crease to join Vir Lakhani, who had resisted determinedly for 31 balls, keeping Tavare company while the deficit was whittled down from 39, into single figures. He had been denied several runs that would have boosted his eventual 9 not out, in the interests of giving his partner the strike, and he now watched on from the non-striker’s end as Jones faced up to Alleyne.
He survived the first ball. The second he got a good bit of bat on and it squeezed out into the covers, looking, for a moment, as if it might reach the boundary but being overhauled by the fielder as the batsmen completed two. His third ball he had a good clean swing at and again connected meatily. But the spot he had picked – mid-off – was patrolled by the tallest man on the pitch, Adrian Neill. Would the ball clear him? It did, and again looked to be heading to the boundary. The batsmen celebrated while the fielders too assumed the game was done.
But the ball had plugged. It would not reach the boundary, and once alerted to this fact by the players on the balcony, everyone had to start playing again: Jones and Lakhani to run like hell, and Neill to turn on his heel and chase after the ball. The batsmen completed two to level the scores. The third looked risky but they went for it and got it.
Tavare’s nine fours included a couple of crunching on-drives, one straight and one wider, both exquisitely timed; and some wristy cuts, as well as an astonishing clip off his legs fox six off Neill to bring up his half-century. But it will be most remembered for the air of calm he exuded, reassessing the situation as the wickets fell around him and adapting his game-plan to suit. When new to the crease and batting with Bracey he was content to let the left-hander take most of the strike. After Louie Shaw and Will Rudge completed a quartet of ducks amongst the top six, he put on 31 with Paul Redwood, biding his time and waiting for the bad ball, knowing that overs were not in short supply but wickets were more so, and that his demise would probably mean the end of Bristol’s hopes.
When another mini-collapse brought Tommy Probert and then Ashleigh Joyner to the crease, Tavare started to take more of the strike and to offer more words of advice to his less proficient team-mates. And once Lakhani entered at the fall of the eighth wicket we were into full strike-farming mode and Tavare was refusing easy singles and compelling his partner to do the same if they did not suit the strategy. He took the brunt of the attack from Neill, who was the pick of the Bedminster bowlers, finishing with 4 for 28, playing and missing or just keeping the ball out with the help of the inside edge on several occasions, but surviving to tell the tale.
Bedminster will rue their dropped catches. The life they gave Sheridan Leech in the second over of Bristol’s innings proved inexpensive, but before Bracey was finally dismissed by a fine diving catch by keeper Elphick, he had been let off in the gully twice, once at either end, by Kamuni and Russell, when on 13 and 27 respectively. The most expensive of the lot, though, might have been Elphick’s drop off Lakhani when 17 were still required for victory.
Overnight rain had left the pitch damp but the umpires deemed it just about dry enough to start on time and Bristol, on winning the toss, chose to bowl, no doubt hoping for a bit of early zip. In fact Bedminster negotiated the first thirteen overs for just the loss of Max Tryfonos, caught behind by Bracey off Probert to strangely muted celebrations. But Bedminster subsided from 60 for 1 to 112 for 7. Joyner bowled Kamuni for 26 with the first ball of his spell, then Bracey smartly stumped Alleyne off Shaw at the other end. In Shaw’s next over Gareth Elphick got a top edge and was caught by Joyner at short fine leg. Jones replaced Shaw and immediately found the edge of Russell’s bat, then Joyner removed Shean – smartly caught at slip by Rudge the ball after almost playing on – and Millard. Neill and Rob Cunliffe held up proceedings for a while as Rudge’s decision to bring himself back in place of Jones failed to pay dividends. But Jones returned at the other end to remove Neill, caught at backward point by Shaw, who seemed so relieved to cling on to it that he stood immobile for several seconds afterwards, as if turned to stone. After a brisk 18 off 10 balls Jack Gibbs failed in an attempt to clear the long-on boundary where Will Young took a superbly judged catch running back. Rudge brought himself back again, this time with better results, trapping Cunliffe LBW first ball. In hindsight Bristol would have been disappointed to let Bedminster get as many as 160. But it made for an enthralling game and, thanks to Tavare, it ended well for the home side.