Batting first, Stanton Drew proved that they are more than just a one-dimensional team, having lost the big-hitting Rob Bailey to the second ball of the game.

Matt Morris and Gary Smart made batting look easy as they smote the ball around the park, adding an imposing 93 for the second wicket in 16.4 overs. Smart (26) was finally bowled by the accurate David Baker, but Morris was able to reach a magnificent 74 before he was eventually caught at long on, trying to add to his tally of eleven boundaries – the second wicket for James Sackett. Another scalp for Baker (2-17) saw the visitors looking unsteady at 125-6, but Reece Bailey (31*) and skipper Tim Kilbride (29) came together with a 52-run stand which helped Stanton Drew to a healthy 194-7 at tea. The Methodists, though, could be well pleased with their collective efforts in the field in keeping the visitors within sight.

In reply, the Methodists had ten runs on the board after three overs but, such was the accuracy of opening bowlers Smart and Rob Bailey, that after nine overs only one more run had been added. A solid third-wicket stand of 38 between Roger Howe (23) and Alex Nash (25) kept the home side in the game, but the introduction of Stephen Croucher’s spin saw both fall in the space of eight deliveries, and further victims for Croucher (4-20) saw the Methodists’ dreams deflating. The lower order did well to slow the decline – James Sackett (16) and John Baker (19*) taking the score to a respectable 140-9 in the final over, leaving the evergreen Jim Eyles to deny the visitors a fifth bowling point – but nobody could halt Stanton Drew’s march to a comfortable 54-run victory.