Sweetfuels CDCA Div One

Barnsley Beeches 147-5 Sherston Magna 143 all out

BARNSLEY BEECHES, unconsidered outsiders at the start of the season, face a last-day clash with principal rivals Avening and Cherington to determine the destination of the CDCA Division One title.

Barnsley beat Sherston Magna by five wickets to go top of the table for the first time this season as third-placed Cricklade completed their season by defeating long-time leaders Avening by the same score.

Barnsley were without regulars Andrew Walker, Vijay Sankuratri and Josh Odom but after a week of rain they won a vital toss in the home match with Sherston and put the visitors in to bat.

The decision was vindicated immediately with a host of early wickets thanks to the excellent flight and guile of Bob Denny (3-32) and accurate pace from Ed Latter (2-20).

A good partnership from Chris Lovell (32) and Ben Dickinson (24) offered Sherston some hope before Andrew Coulter (3-16) and Latter brought the visitors' innings to a close at 143 all out.

After tea, Rob Howard (45) and Andrew Parffrey (29) made a solid opening partnership of 68 for Barnsley. But Parffrey's wicket was one of three in quick succession thanks to some accurate seam and swing bowling from Andy Pegg and skipper James Harmer.

Sherston thought they were in with a chance at this point, however Quasim Ali and Faheed Saheed took the attack to Sherston and reached the target comfortably with 14 overs to spare.

The winner-takes-all clash between Avening and Barnsley takes place on Saturday at The Park, Cherington, starting at 2.15pm.