Winn leads Bridges to top with victory over Mayfield

Man of the match was their overseas player David Winn for his masterful 64 not out.

Captain Matt Blandford praised the Australian’s performance. “Dave was excellent with the bat on Saturday, he controlled the innings beautifully,” Blandford said.

“He was able to keep out anything the bowlers threw at him whilst dispatching the bad balls.”

Mayfield came to the Barker-Meads to take on a Three Bridges team brimming with confidence.

In the top of the table clash Bridges captain Blandford won the toss and chose to bowl first.

They didn’t have to wait long for the breakthrough as Blandford had Rob Raymond snicked off to wicketkeeper Joe Walker.

Mayfield’s overseas player Nisal Francisco was then caught at third slip off Blandford again.

Blandford then trapped Rob Sharma lbw as Mayfield fell to 15-3.

Ollie Blandford lured Lloyd into a false shot and cleaned bowled Ed Finch to reduce the visitors to 40-5.

Conor Golding then made a mess of Mayfield captain Jason Finch’s stumps to leave Mayfield reeling at six down after 16 overs.

James Chaplin offered a glimmer of hope building his way to 57 but Cooke and Allen fell to Rose and a run-out respectively as Mayfield struggled.

Chaplin’s resistance was ended by Blandford to leave him with figures of 4-22.

It was left to Luke Bellars to claim the last wicket, caught at short fine leg by Russell, Mayfield ending 115 all out.

The chase got off to a bad start as Bridges lost Walid Ghauri to a Matt Cooke yorker early on.

This brought together Ollie Blandford and Winn who built a solid partnership based on a defence first approach.

Both batters showed great maturity as they occupied the crease, seeing off the main Mayfield threats.

Blandford eventually fell to Francisco, bowled by a googly for 25.

Winn continued to play the long game, controlling the innings perfectly.

James Russell came and went before it was left to Walker and Winn to finish the job, ending five not out and 64* respectively.

Blandford added: “Naturally a win over a promotion rival is very pleasing and puts us in a great place.

“Nothing is confirmed yet and we have our sights fully set on winning every one of the last three games.”