Cleeve CC 1st team took on second-placed Pak Bristolians at home this weekend and ran out 77 run winners in the Bristol and District Senior Division fixture, led by an opening stand of 142 runs from Mitch Want and Sam Williams.

Invited to bat first, Cleeve openers Want and skipper Williams set a great foundation for the innings, hitting 90 runs in the first 20 overs, with both players passing the half century mark.

It took until the 33rd over for Williams to play an inside edge back onto his stumps for 57 at 142 -1 off Ahmed Tabraiz, before Want was adjudged LBW shortly afterwards off Abdullah Tabraiz for a fine 78 at 151-2.

This started a flurry of wickets as Andy Barnsley, Dan Jones, Ben Pinkey and Jack Spiers were all dismissed in the space of four runs, at 155-6 in the 39th over.

Brothers Connor and Joe Hance rallied the Cleeve innings, adding another 36 runs before Connor departed, stumped for 15 at 191-7, as younger brother Joe added an unbeaten 36 off 22 balls to see Cleeve post 210 after their allotted 45 overs.

After the break Cleeve bowled with accuracy and were supported by sharp fielding to stifle the Pak batsmen until they had their breakthrough in the 9th over, Barnsley removing opener Farooq as he snicked off to keeper Tom Carpenter at 42-1.

Fellow Cleeve opening bowler Spiers was unsuccessful off his four overs so was replaced by Sam Jervis who bowled with pace and control to take 3-15 from his seven overs.

He soon had Warraich, pouched by Want for 38, at 56-2 and 12 runs later removed Hasan LBW for 10.

Wickets started to tumble as Conner Hance, 3 -29 from 7.3 overs, struck twice to remove Razaq and Ahmed Tabraiz whilst brother Joe toppled Abdur-Rehman.

The returning Barnsley, nine overs 2-33, nabbed his second wicket to remove Ahmed for no score in the 33rd over and Connor Hance added his third of the day three balls later to put the Bristolians on 125-8 and needing 86 runs from the remaining 11.4 overs.

Jervis returned to crush any remaining hopes for the opposition as he took Pak’s 8th wicket, and Want finished the job off an over later with fantastic fielding to run out Zia in the 36th, ending the Bristolians’ innings at 133 and giving Cleeve the win by 77 runs after an excellent all-round performance.

Cleeve are next in action in the next round of the Somerset Cup as they host Weston-super-Mare 2nds on June 19th and to Whitchurch for a league fixture on June 22nd.