IT was agony for Chipping Sodbury in the Gloucestershire County League First Division on Saturday as they went down to defeat by just two agonising runs.

Sodbury were playing top of the table Poulton and came close to handing the leaders a third loss from eight matches this season and a superb six win for themselves.

Skipper James Rendell had an outstanding afternoon with both the ball and bat as Poulton went to the crease first.

Sodbury had an early success when Tom Makepeace ran out opener Digby Nuthall for a duck, but opener Scott Meredith caused Sodbury headaches as he ploughed on to 77, hitting 13 boundaries, before Rendall caught him off the bowling of James Luscombe.

Rendall turned his attention to bowling and took three wickets, two of which were in combination with his wicketkeeper brother John who stumped one and caught another of the Poulton batsmen for single figure knocks.

And Sodbury took another couple of wicket cheaply before one late fling from Poulton’s Charlie Buse, with thirty, hoisted their total towards two hundred before he was the second victim of Josh Morris.

Poulton finished on 202 all out, and it was a decent target for Sodbury to attack.

James Luscombe got them off to a good start in reply, as Jake Reed and Makepeace both went for 16 and ten respectively.

John Rendell, at number four, added 23 as Luscombe went for forty. Sodbury lost another couple of wickets before James Rendell, at number seven, dug in to hit thirty.

The tail wagged as well with Nick Wake ending on 19 not out, and Josh Morris contributing twenty before he was caught out. Number ten Jack Philpott and last man Ben Waldron both struck eight in the run chase at the end but they finished their 45 overs on 200-9, losing by just those two runs.

Meanwhile, Chipping Sodbury seconds had a great day at home to Hatherley and Reddings seconds at home in the Gloucestershire County League Division Two.

Sodbury seconds won the toss and batted first. However, it all looked bleak for them as top order wickets fell with regularity.

However, the bowlers – and particularly the final partnership – came to the rescue. Sodbury were in deep trouble at 86-6 and 125-7 before the revival.

Number nine Oliver Sayer hit 21 but, when he went, skipper Jay Penfold at number ten and partner Dan Brown, at number 11, batted and batted to frustrate the Hatherley and Reddings bowlers enormously.

The heroic effort saw Penford end on an unbeaten 42 and Brown went three runs further, with 45 not out, in a partnership for the last wicket of 68 as Sodbury finished on a great 264-9.

Hatherley started well in reply and were on 104-2 when the Sodbury bowlers really got going. Darren Bell was the main destroyer of the visitors as he took five wickets as Hatherley slumped to 200 all out in 42.4 overs for a 64 runs Chipping Sodbury seconds victory.