Temple Cloud earn home win against Minehead CC by 157 runs

It was a familiar feeling for Minehead though as they once again failed to produce with the bat and were bowled out far short of the needed 268 to give Temple the 157-run victory.

Minehead won the toss and decided to bowl, starting off well when Harry Tudball dismissed Mortimer and Curtis to put Temple at 19-2.

However, the home side settled into their batting and accelerated to 73-4 and then 121-5 as Croker hit 65, which included six maximum scores, before he was tricked by a Dan Bowditch delivery that caught him for lbw.

Number eight batsman Dan Nolan came in later on at the start of the 30th over to smash a late 74 runs off 68 balls to take Temple to 268 runs from the 50 overs.

Tudball had the best figures for Minehead as he took 3-45 from his 10 overs, while Bowditch added two wickets and Oli Groves added one more from his seven overs.

Minehead went into bat knowing they would need at least a couple of big scorers from their line up if they wanted to challenge the Temple total, but it ended up being a tale that’s all too familiar for The Pirates this season as not one batsman was able to surpass the 20-run mark in the innings.

Ian Buchanan and Dan Sherring opened the batting for the visiting side and managed 19 and 16 runs respectively before both were dismissed by Chris Diaper, with Braden Taylor following for a duck soon after to put Minehead at 41-3 in the ninth over.

Charlie Payne managed then added 15, before a string off Minehead men were lost for single digits to the team at 89-7.

Late order batsmen Bowditch and Ahern did try and put in a last stand effort with their 19 and 12 runs, but it was always going to be an uphill battle as Minehead were toppled for 111 at the start of the 29th over, giving Temple the 157-run win.

Minehead have now lost all five of their league games but will be looking to turn that around on June 8 when they host mid-table Shapwick and Polden CC.