Bashley welcomed near neighbours Bransgore to Bashley Road on Saturday.
After the recent heavy rain and with dark clouds overhead, Bransgore won the toss and had no hesitation in asking Bashley to bat first. The Bransgore opening bowlers took full advantage of the helpful conditions and Joe Ranger took three quick wickets to soon reduce Bashley to 9 for3. Harry Anstey started to dig in but wickets continued to fall rapidly to the Bransgore change bowlers and Bashley were in deep trouble at 25 for 6 after 13 overs. As the sun started to come out and the wicket became a little easier a couple of partnerships started to develop. Jason Eede (4) and Joe Edmunds (6) both provided some resistance and support for Anstey who was starting to find the boundary with increasing fluidity. Anstey’s fine effort eventually came to an end when he was caught in the deep for an excellent innings of 76.The Bashley innings was then soon wrapped up for a meagre 108 with five ducks and no other batsman reaching double figures. For Bransgore, Ranger( 3 for 36) and Ed Page (3 for 22) were the main wicket takers.
After tea a heavy shower forced the players off and the Bransgore target was reduced to 102 to win off 40 overs. Their innings also started poorly as they struggled to 7 for 2 of the first 8 overs. For Bashley David Morris bowled his opening 10 overs straight through conceding just 6 runs. Jack Cox having been dropped on 2 then started to bat confidently and to accelerate the scoring for Bransgore .He survived a second dropped chance and took full advantage to take the game away from Bashley. When he was eventually bowled for a fine 46 by Tom Harris (2 for 18) he had put on a crucial 70 run partnership with Jem Page (30).This started another batting collapse as 6 Bransgore wickets fell for just 18 runs. Sam Scott (4 for 25) and a couple of run outs had suddenly reduced Bransgore to 95 for 8. However with the tension increasing they eventually reached the winning target of 102 with three overs to spare.
An excellent match played in good spirits by both sides with Bransgore worthy winners in the end but Bashley will rue their missed chances in this game.