West of England Premier League Prem 2 Glos/Wilts

Cheltenham 266-3 beat Lechlade 262-7 by seven wickets

LECHLADE travelled to top of the table Cheltenham with a slightly stronger side than in the opening two games.

Skipper Benny Ellis won the toss and elected to bat first. Harvey Jupp soon edged to the keeper and it wasn't long before James Palmer got a ball that kept low and was adjudged LBW.

Brad Dial and Benny Ellis played circumspectly on a pitch which was not playing as well as expected.

Progress was a little slow but the pair got Lechlade to drinks at 110 for 2.

When Benny Ellis was bowled by Sam Didcot for 33 there was a mini collapse but Dial was scoring more freely and was heading towards a ton.

However, he kept losing the strike and some momentum was lost until George Leakey (31) launched an attack with 31 in 20 balls.

Dial duly reached his century and went on to 116 not out taking Lechlade to a creditable 262-7 off their 50 overs.

The consensus at tea was that this would be a challenging total to chase down but Cheltenham openers set about the task with authority.

Although the Lechlade bowlers were able to keep control of the scoring they could not find a breakthrough with the Cheltenham pair of Peter Woodford and Kieran Smith using their feet well to Lechlade's battery of slow bowlers.

The openers had put on 150 for the first wicket when Freddie Martin (3-53) joined the attack and had Woodland (87) well caught by Will Evans.

Martin also had Nick Evans (eight) caught behind but by the time he had Kieran Smith caught for 114 Cheltenham were within sight of victory.

Breed (40 no) duly saw his side home with five balls to spare.

It was a glorious day and a great game of cricket but a third defeat for Lechlade which leaves them in bottom but one place in the table.

However, there were some encouraging signs and with more players available soon, Lechlade will be looking to climb the division.