There was nothing to separate neighbours Nailsea CC and Backwell Flax Bourton as the encounter finished in a dramatic tie in their local derby in the Bristol & District 10th Division last Saturday. 

Batting first, Backwell Flax Bourton's Ewan McGregor (62) and Peter Skirrow (23) made excellent progress against the Nailsea bowlers, adding 64 for the first wicket before James Taylor (1-33) made the breakthrough.

McGregor then added a further 61 with Ben Howe (38), before he became Ian Sherreard’s first wicket at 187-3, Backwell Flax Bourton looked set for a significant total. However, Sherreard (4-31) and Nilesh Vaz conceding just 21 from an eight-over spell and Jack Smith (1-52) chipped in to peg the visitors to 206-8 at the break.

In reply, Nailsea quickly lost openers Gary Phippen (1) and Jack Smith (12) as well as in form Vaz (5). At this point Rob Lange was joined by Steve Lester and the pair began to rebuild the innings.

Lange was in tremendous form as he raced to 68 from just 36 balls before he fell. Lester added a useful 17 and with Steve Spencer also making a run a ball 32, the game was very much in the balance. As Nailsea crept towards their target, the last over arrived with all outcomes possible. 

The loss of captain James Taylor for a fine 34 meant Nailsea needed to find four runs from somewhere to win. A scrambled three brought the scores level with the final ball to be bowled, which, despite a lusty swing from Sherreard ended in wicketkeeper Adam Cooper's hands and a comfortable run out of Zarweis Safi (3) left the scores tied. 

For Backwell Flax Bourton, Elliot Marston (2-36), Ben Hobbs (1-20), Matthew May (1-35), Sam Kent (2-26) and Max Taffinder (3-30) all picked up with impressive figures.

This Saturday Nailsea travel to Bristol Asians.

Nailsea Seconds continued their good form with a six-wicket win at Lodway Fourths in their Division 30 game.

Nailsea bowled well to restrict the hosts to 143-7 from their 30 overs.

Dylan Williams (1-30), Shaun Williams (1-16) and James Vivian (1-24) all performed well but it was captain Alan Rogerson's fine spell (4-5) that really did the damage to Lodway's innings.

Nailsea's reply was built around opener Kelston Crew’s fine 47 not out. Max Davies added 21, Mat Beadle 9 and Alfie Davies 11, before an unbeaten 10 not out from Henry Thompson in support of Crew, saw Nailsea over the line at 144-6. 

This Saturday, Nailsea Seconds visit Stapleton Fourths.