On a Past Players Day at Cleeve CC this weekend, a woeful Cleeve batting performance brought a 4:20pm finish as Winterbourne won by seven wickets in just 20 overs.

In front of a packed crowd, Cleeve elected to bat first but soon lost skipper Sam Williams who edged his 2nd ball to slip to depart for a single at 13-1.

Dan Jones and Glenn Lewin added two runs between them as Lewis Ford snapped up two wickets at 26-3.

Cleeve opener Mitch Want played patiently, supported by Andy Barnsley, and added 32 more runs before Want was adjudged LBW off Kislingbury for a Cleeve top score of 31.

Jalal Ahmed, Connor Hance and Jack Spiers all fell victim to Kislingbury soon after, as wickets tumbled, with only Barnsley making double figures before falling LBW to Ahmad for 20 at 95-8.

Unfortunately, bottom order batsmen Alfie Parsons and Cam Elswood offered little resistance as Cleeve were bowled all out for 101 in the 31st over.

Cleeve needed a strong start with the ball and had no alternative other than to set attacking fields.

Sadly, for them, Whitchurch found scoring much easier and despite an apparent catch behind that was not given early in the innings, wickets proved difficult to find with Cleeve’s opening attack of Barnsley, three overs for 19 runs, and Spiers, five overs for 17, failing to make a breakthrough through the first 10 overs.

Williams and Ahmed failed to create an opening until Hance, 2-20 from four overs, combined twice with the safe hands of Williams to secure a quick brace removing Kay, 17, and Green for a duck to put Winterbourne at 57-2 in the middle of the 12th over.

The little used spin of Want then came in to finally remove opener Ahmad for 39 as he departed LBW at 57-3 after which Moore, 19, and Hamid, 21, eased Winterbourne to victory as they nudged their team over the line after just 20 overs.

So, disappointment all round at the halfway mark of the season for Cleeve as they move down to 6th in the Senior Division.

Next week sees the start of the return fixtures as Cleeve host Downend at the King George V Playing Fields, hoping to get back to winning ways.