Bradley Currie maiden five-wicket Premier Division haul [Roy Honeybone]
Bashley (Rydal) sit proudly at the top of the ECB British Gas Southern League after leapfrogging overnight leaders South Wilts with a three-wicket win over the former champions at the BCG.
Teenage left-armer Bradley Currie put his Economics A-level study revision to one side to celebrate a maiden five-wicket haul as South Wilts were bowled out for 213.
South Australian left-hander Patrick Page, with a classy but chancy 77, and skipper Michael Porter did most of the donkey work to get Bashley over the line.
Asked about being top of the table, Porter said: “I’m really buzzing. We wanted to beat these guys (South Wilts) and send a statement to the rest of the Premier League that we really do intend to compete this season.
“Beating them will give us enormous confidence at the start of the all-day match programme, the results from which are normally crucial when the honours are handed out.
“We won the Time flag last season, so we need to push on and get plenty of win points on the board.”
South Wilts have found top order runs hard to come by this season and after Currie and Mitch Wilson had removed openers Tom Cowley and Will Wade, spinner Sam Thomson eked out Jack Mynott and James Hayward (30) to leave the visitors an uneasy 97-4 at lunch.
The direction the South Wilts innings would take hinged on lunch-break pair Joe Cranch (28) and Ben Draper (29), but both perished soon after the interval.
Tottering at an uneasy 120-6, James Hibberd (52 not out) and Luke Evans (22) added 67, but Currie’s return from the pavilion end produced a clatter of wickets and it needed a few late blows from Ryan Murray to get South Wilts to 213 all out.
“Brad bowls at the stumps five or six balls an over and thinks about every ball,” praised Porter.
“If you bowl that straight, you’re going to get wickets. I don’t think enough bowlers do that. Perhaps they should try it !”
When Bashley replied, Tom Gates immediately struck a sweet extra-cover boundary, but perished leg before to Murray’s next ball.
Enter Australian left-hander Patrick Page, some of whose shots raised the game to a different level.
The Adelaide prospect and Josh Digby (28) eased Bashley to 87-1 at tea before Murray grabbed his second wicket.
Page, with a straight six and 13 fours, made 77 before wicketkeeper Sam Pittman caught him at the third time of asking off Evans.
By then, Bashley had progressed to 132 and when Porter and Chris Vaughan (20) moved their reply to 172-3, the outcome looked inevitable.
But a triple-wicket breakthrough by Evans, with a Premier League best 4-52, saw Bashley stumble to 187-7 and put the match back in the balance.
Porter (43 not out) lost the strike, but Simon Watkins quickly struck four boundaries and scored 25 of the 27 runs Bashley needed for victory.
“Our middle order didn’t fire as we might have wanted but we bat in depth, with a batsman as good as Simon Watkins coming in at nine,” Porter said.
“He whacked a few to the boundary to finish the game off.”
Beaten South Wilts skipper James Hibberd reflected: “We showed a bit of character, but basically we didn’t get enough runs on a decent BCG deck.
“We’ve got quite a few youngsters that are making their way, but they’ve got to learn a bit quicker. We knew this might be the case.
“There’s people with plenty of ability, but guys have got 20s and 30s and not gone on to make big scores. We’ve had just one century (by Will Wade) and only two 50s (by Wade and Tom Cowley) in five games.
Teenage left-armer Bradley Currie put his Economics A-level study revision to one side to celebrate a maiden five-wicket haul as South Wilts were bowled out for 213.
South Australian left-hander Patrick Page, with a classy but chancy 77, and skipper Michael Porter did most of the donkey work to get Bashley over the line.
Asked about being top of the table, Porter said: “I’m really buzzing. We wanted to beat these guys (South Wilts) and send a statement to the rest of the Premier League that we really do intend to compete this season.
“Beating them will give us enormous confidence at the start of the all-day match programme, the results from which are normally crucial when the honours are handed out.
“We won the Time flag last season, so we need to push on and get plenty of win points on the board.”
South Wilts have found top order runs hard to come by this season and after Currie and Mitch Wilson had removed openers Tom Cowley and Will Wade, spinner Sam Thomson eked out Jack Mynott and James Hayward (30) to leave the visitors an uneasy 97-4 at lunch.
The direction the South Wilts innings would take hinged on lunch-break pair Joe Cranch (28) and Ben Draper (29), but both perished soon after the interval.
Tottering at an uneasy 120-6, James Hibberd (52 not out) and Luke Evans (22) added 67, but Currie’s return from the pavilion end produced a clatter of wickets and it needed a few late blows from Ryan Murray to get South Wilts to 213 all out.
“Brad bowls at the stumps five or six balls an over and thinks about every ball,” praised Porter.
“If you bowl that straight, you’re going to get wickets. I don’t think enough bowlers do that. Perhaps they should try it !”
When Bashley replied, Tom Gates immediately struck a sweet extra-cover boundary, but perished leg before to Murray’s next ball.
Enter Australian left-hander Patrick Page, some of whose shots raised the game to a different level.
The Adelaide prospect and Josh Digby (28) eased Bashley to 87-1 at tea before Murray grabbed his second wicket.
Page, with a straight six and 13 fours, made 77 before wicketkeeper Sam Pittman caught him at the third time of asking off Evans.
By then, Bashley had progressed to 132 and when Porter and Chris Vaughan (20) moved their reply to 172-3, the outcome looked inevitable.
But a triple-wicket breakthrough by Evans, with a Premier League best 4-52, saw Bashley stumble to 187-7 and put the match back in the balance.
Porter (43 not out) lost the strike, but Simon Watkins quickly struck four boundaries and scored 25 of the 27 runs Bashley needed for victory.
“Our middle order didn’t fire as we might have wanted but we bat in depth, with a batsman as good as Simon Watkins coming in at nine,” Porter said.
“He whacked a few to the boundary to finish the game off.”
Beaten South Wilts skipper James Hibberd reflected: “We showed a bit of character, but basically we didn’t get enough runs on a decent BCG deck.
“We’ve got quite a few youngsters that are making their way, but they’ve got to learn a bit quicker. We knew this might be the case.
“There’s people with plenty of ability, but guys have got 20s and 30s and not gone on to make big scores. We’ve had just one century (by Will Wade) and only two 50s (by Wade and Tom Cowley) in five games.
Michael Porter (left) and Simon Watkins (right) lave the field to a standing ovation from their adoring fans after a match-winning Bashley (Rydal) partnership.
