WEPL Premier Two Glos/Wilts

Cheltenham 116-9

Lechlade 131-5

LECHLADE can secure the WEPL Premier Two Glos/Wilts title on Saturday if they can beat basement club Warminster at the Manor Ground.

They took a firm grip on the league trophy when travelling to Cheltenham at the weekend when they moved 30 points clear after beating their main title rivals.

With the clouds gathering at Cheltenham's Victoria Ground it was no surprise that Lechlade were asked to bat first having lost the toss.

They were soon in trouble as Joe Breet played on first ball to former team-mate Luke Sellers, and in the next over James Palmer played tamely to gulley.

Tom Young (15) looked promising but then played outside a ball from Sam Didcote in his first over, leaving Lechlade at 28-3 when the rain arrived.

The umpires were under pressure to be fair to both teams in the conditions, with Lechlade content not to play given their 17-point lead in the league, whereas Cheltenham needed a win to close the gap.

Eventually it was decided that play would start at 5pm to enable a minimum 20-over match.

This left Lechlade only 9.5 overs to post a defendable total. In-form Benny Ellis (66 not out) then played an exceptional innings, scoring off all but two balls after the rain break and adding 62 in only 32 deliveries.

Freddie Martin (12), Jock Jamieson-Black (8) and Liam Smith (10no) fed the strike to Ellis and Lechlade posted a total of 131-5 which was adjusted to a target of 125 in 20 overs under Duckworth-Lewis, making Cheltenham the clear favourites.

Lechlade adopted a policy of frequent bowling changes and took wickets at regular intervals thanks to some good catching and aggressive ground fielding.

Smith bowled three excellent overs (1-8) with Martin, Jamieson-Black, Ellis and David-Ward all picking up a wicket apiece.

But it was the introduction of Young which proved decisive as he bowled his four overs for only 11 runs taking the key wicket of Jacques Sharam.

Kieran Smith was still at the crease but by the time Martin and Smith returned for the final two overs Cheltenham required 21 to win.

Smith (2-16) bowled Will Simmons and then Martin (3-27) started the final over with the wickets of Smith (51) and Didcote first ball and the game was won by eight runs.

With just two fixtures to come, the irrepressible young Lechlade side will look to finish the job in style this weekend.