Timsbury’s exciting season shows no sign of going away and in the latest cliffhanger they defeated league leaders Bath 3rd XI by three wickets off the last ball of the match. On their opponent’s ground they chased down Bath’s challenge of 239. With three matches left in the Bristol and District League Division 1 there is just eight points between the top four sides with Timsbury now in second place with Whitchurch leading the pack.
Batting first Bath made a poor start slipping to 18-3 with early wickets for Kev Sibley and Gary Pearcy but William Simmons (57), Ben Harper (48) and Richard Pandya (38) led the recovery and Bath were dismissed for 239 off the last ball of the 40 overs. There were two wickets each for all five of the Timsbury bowlers, Sibley, Pearcy, Martin Richards, Jon Strand and Greg Passingham.
In reply Timsbury were soon 18-2 but consistent batting throughout the order and a pleasingly positive approach saw the visitors keep in contention to set up a tense finish. Paul Cracknell (39), Lew Redwood (34), skipper Jesse Bishop (34) and Strand (32) all batted well while Bath were their own worst enemies bowling in all a total of 43 wides compared to Timsbury total of six. It still came down to the final over and with the scores tied and one ball remaining Passingham struck the winning runs.
Timsbury second eleven also collected an important win in the Bristol and District League Division 6 beating Golden Hill 4th XI at home by four wickets. Batting first the visitors struggled throughout their innings but a last-wicket stand of 42, led by Ben Wright who made 60, saw Golden Hill reach a defendable total of 172 from their 40 overs. Alex Nicholson took 4-33, Mike Reynolds 2-21 and Laurie Jones 2-47.
Jones then featured with the bat making an important 35 and with George Webb continuing his recent good form with 42. Ben Saunder contributed 28 and Timsbury crossed the line with just one over to spare.
Timsbury’s third team faced a daunting away trip to league leaders Bristol New Eleven in the Bristol and District League Division 9 East and on a hot afternoon saw the Bristol side notch up a total of 353-7. Chris Rawlings and Philip Tom both took two wickets. In reply Timsbury struggled to 78-9 but then a battling last-wicket partnership of 75 between Matt Ball (73) and Martin Kendall (22 not out) defied the league leaders to post a respectable total of 151.
Finally congratulations to two generations of the Sage family. Mark has been part of the Somerset Over-50s side that has reached the national semi-finals of the competition while his nephew Albie Sage has been selected for the Somerset under-12 team.
Malcolm Tucker