West of England Premier League
Premier 1
Taunton St Andrew’s 223-2 beat Bristol 219 by 8 wkts

ON the day Somerset ended their 14-year wait for a trophy, Taunton St Andrew’s breathed a sigh of relief as they brought their own wait to an end.

Beaten in their opening three Premier 1 fixtures, the Saints welcomed Bristol to the Wyvern Club on Saturday and ultimately ran out comfortable winners, helped in no small part by a brilliant unbeaten century from James Regan.

The hosts won the toss and elected to field, and were soon celebrating their first inroads into the Bristol order, as 31-0 became 32-2.

Jack Penn (8) and Josh Tasman-Jones (0) were dismissed by Harry Clements (3-36 off 7.1 overs) and James Hayman (1-28 off nine), respectively, with wicketkeeper Regan taking both catches behind the stumps.

Somerset prospect Fin Trenouth (36) and William Tavare (12) rebuilt to reach 60, at which point Tavare fell to Michael Parsons (2-26 off 10).

Lloyd Alley (2-39 off eight) bowled Trenouth and then trapped Sheridan Leech lbw, leaving Bristol on 95-6 and in real trouble.

To their credit, the visitors refused to crumble, as Tom Kear hit 54 and William Rudge 32 to take their side up to 160.

Even when they were seen off by Justin Burke (1-38 off eight) and Luke Poole (1-44 off seven) – meaning that every Saints bowler took at least one wicket – Tommy Probert (30) and Vir Lakhani (15) made valuable contributions to take the away side past 200.

Clements ended their fun in the final over of the 50, though, removing both to leave Bristol 219 all out.

A challenging run chase was made to look like child’s play by Saints’ opening partnership, Regan and James Rew.

Rew played a steady game, hitting 54 off 109 balls, while Regan’s approach was anything but.

He smashed 14 fours and four sixes en route to 125 off 110 balls, with Probert (0-47 off seven) coming in for much of the punishment.

There was a slight wobble when Louie Shaw (2-52 off 10) removed both Rew and then Jack Cooper (1), as 163-0 became 173-2, but most of the work had already been done.

The experienced head of Kevin Parsons (19no) joined Regan at the crease, and there was no further alarm as the pair took the hosts to an eight-wicket victory in 42.3 overs.

Saints remain in the bottom two, with 40 points from their first four matches, but Potterne, Bristol and Lansdown are all within nine points of them; basement side Cheltenham are struggling on four straight losses and 26 points.

This coming Saturday sees Saints travel to third-placed Downend, hoping to build on last weekend’s breakthrough victory.

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WEPL Premier 2 Bristol/Somerset
Taunton Deane 236 beat Shapwick & Polden 212 by 24 runs

A HALF-CENTURY and 10 tight overs from Jamie Stephens guided Taunton Deane to a fourth consecutive league win, as they won away to Shapwick & Polden by 24 runs on Saturday.

The Deane welcomed back Rob Woodman as skipper, Charlie Sharland and Stephens to the ranks, but Woodman (2) was first to go, tamely pushing a caught and bowled back to Joe Mason (1-40).

Tennessee Harlow and Charlie Sharland both fell for eight runs apiece as the Deane experienced their customary middle order wobble, as Josh Luckins (2-35) caused problems.

Sam Loud (34) stood tall at the other end, but was bowled to become a first victim for Oskar White (3-61), and when Harry Thomas (34) lofted a dolly to the hands of Sean Stringer at deep long on, the Deane were precariously placed on 134-5.

Luke Williams was joined by Stephens and the pair took the Deane past 150 and towards a third batting point before Williams (16) succumbed lbw to Nayan Karmarkar (4-44).

Sam Shaikh (9) and Stephens pushed the Deane onwards still, but it was Stephens and the combination of Matt Derham (12) and then Rob Pryke (16) that really brought home the Deane advantage.

Pryke smashed two monster sixes and although Stephens eventually went for 54, the Deane finished on 236 all out.

Despite an early wicket for Pryke (2-36), Sam Edmunds (21) was quickly into his stride, as was Steve Tinnion (19).

Just as Shapwick looked like they might run away with the run chase, the introduction of Stephens reaped immediate reward as he trapped Tinnion lbw, and Pryke then saw off Edmunds, Thomas with the catch.

Wayne Spencer looked to bat Shapwick into the game, forming partnerships with John Stratton, Will Mason and White.

But then Matt Derham (2-40) returned to remove White and then clean bowl Spencer for a fine 75, the Deane could sense victory.

It was left to Luke Williams (1-36) and Jason Squire (2-29) to finish the job as the Shapwick tail yielded only another 18 runs, as they subsided to a fourth straight defeat in the division.

The Deane had won by 24 runs, picking up maximum batting and bowling points for the first time this season; the victory sees them move into second place, one point behind next opponents North Perrott.

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WEPL Premier 2 Bristol/Somerset
Winterbourne 125-1 beat Taunton 120 by 9 wkts

TAUNTON’s young side continued their shaky start to the season when they fell foul of Gloucestershire skipper Chris Dent on Saturday.

Having made the 50-mile trip to Winterbourne, Taunton won the toss and skipper Charles Clist opted to bat on a flat track.

But the innings was undone early on as Aaron Blake and Dylan Caddy took out the top three with 17 on the board. Dan Quick (17) and Richard Glover did their best to rescue the situation, adding 59. After Glover fell for a patient 38, Darc Browne (16) and Max Toohey (16) added runs to move Taunton on to 116-5.

However, that was as good as it got as George Ford and James Williams came on to remove the last five batsmen for four runs.

After tea, the mediocre score was incidental as Dent took control.

He smashed any and all Taunton bowlers to the boundary, first in an opening stand of 91 with Ben Parker.

Dent and Sam Bracey reached their target in the 16th over with the former unbeaten on 88 having hit 15 fours and three sixes in his 44-ball innings.

Taunton are not the first side to suffer from Dent’s inclusion this summer and probably won’t be the last.

As it was, Max Toohey bowled well during his four-over spell, taking the only wicket to fall for 14.

On Saturday, Taunton are on the road again, this time to Bishopston, who have made a bright start to the season but only narrowly beat strugglers Weston last weekend