West of England Premier League Prem Two Glos/Wilts

Biddestone 174-8 beat Rockhampton 1

IT will be all to play for on Saturday when Rockhampton tackle West of England Premier League Prem Two Glos/Wilts champions-elect Lechlade at home.

Lechlade may be out of sight now as they stand 34 points ahead of second-placed Cheltenham but, with just three points separating Cheltenham from third-placed Rockhampton, it is very much game on!

However, it could have been the Rams defending second place this week instead of laying in third after they went down to defeat and handed a lifeline to basement strugglers Biddestone in their battle for survival.

Biddestone won the toss and decided to bat. They made progress to 49-1 after 14 overs when the rain came down.

When the teams came back out, the umpires decided that the match was to be reduced to 39 overs a side.

Biddestone managed to get 174 for the loss of eight wickets from their allotted overs which was largely down to a stubborn 49 from opener Tim Knight who agonisingly fell to a caught and bowled by James Hancox a run short of his half-century.

Other Biddestone batsmen chipped in runs between ten and twenty before they were out.

Chris Willoughby and Hancox finished as Rockhampton’s best bowlers, with Willoughby recording figures of 3-33 from his eight overs, and Hancox getting 3-40 from seven overs.

Guy Brothwood also chipped in with 2-40 from eight overs.

The revised Duckworth-Lewis Method target of 183 from 39 overs seemed a challenging one of about four-and-a-half runs an over, but the Rams found themselves on the back foot early on.

Opener Jamie Wakefield was first to go for a duck with Rockhampton having scored two runs. Will Tyler followed 14 runs later after making seven, which included a boundary.

And when Guy Brothwood fell for 23, Rockhampton were on 33-3 and in a spot of bother.

But the worst was about to come as Rowan Cartlidge went the ball after Brothwood, and when Matt Tyler departed for three, from 16 balls, Rockhampton were in proper trouble at 39-5 and still 136 runs away from victory.

Number six Rob Belbin and Willoughby, batting at seven, tried to steady the ship and forge a partnership which would help Rockhampton recover.

But Belbin went for 12, having hit two boundaries from his thirty balls faced, and his side were on 59-6 and in danger of not making it to three figures, let along 183!

The lower order came to the rescue, though, as skipper Jack Spence joined Willoughby and dug in.

The pair put on a 42-run partnership, respectable giving the circumstances, before Spence was caught for 22, having faced 31 balls.

Willoughby and Will Cartlidge also forged a good partnership and it looked like they could steer Rockhampton home to an unlikely win.

But when Willoughby went for 39 and Cartilidge departed without a further run on the board, it left Rockhampton on 144-9 with the last pair at the crease.

And when Dave McCabe was clean bowled for a duck after facing six balls, he left Hancox stranded without scoring and Rockhampton ended on 145 all out to lose by 38 runs.