Barrow Gurney enjoyed double success last week after winning their opening round of the Batman T20 Cup before a league win over Hanham seconds on Saturday.

In the cup, Barrow travelled to near neighbours Abbots Leigh and put them in on a slow surface after recent rain, with accurate bowling and good catching and ground fielding restricting the hosts to 92-8.

Ed Holdaway took 2-17 to add to his two catches but Barrow lost three early wickets before Mark Brown (40 not out) batted sensibly to steer them into the quarter-finals, with help from Jordan Allen (29).

A beautiful sunny day at Hobbs Lane on Saturday saw Barrow celebrate further success after a solid batting display against Hanham to make 196-9.

Bernie Forge (22), Brown (32), Guy Fisher (22) and Holdaway (34) made starts, but could not go on to play the decisive innings, but Mark Fisher bowled eight overs for only 22 runs, and the other bowlers continued to put pressure on the visitors, chipping away with regular wickets.

Holdway (2-29) and Jonny Sykes (2-23) were the most successful, with Holdaway also taking a stunning one-handed catch on the boundary to save a near-certain six.

With the pressure mounting, 16 was needed off the last over, and with an early six, it looked possible for Hanham, but a run out removed top-scorer Ross Edwards for 63 as Barrow won by seven runs.

The seconds had their first success of the season at Patchway where a slow pitch made batting tricky.

North Somerset Times: Mark Gracey on his way to 48 for Barrow Gurney seconds against PatchwayMark Gracey on his way to 48 for Barrow Gurney seconds against Patchway (Image: BGCC)

Opener Mark Gracey (48) led the way with good judgemen and, after some early scares at the other end, eventually found good support in Peter Rooney (27) and David Smith (22 not out) as Barrow made 156-8.

Early wickets were vital, and Simon Hudson (4-32) supplied these aided by three good catches by stand-in wicketkeeper Steve Allen.

Mike Lilley (2-17) bowled with unerring accuracy to stifle any chance of a recovery and when Seb Allen dismissed the Patchway skipper it was only a matter of time until a 43-run win was secured.

The Sunday XI were also up against a Hanham team at Hobbs Lane and began slowly, with several players getting starts before Frank Forge cut loose to hit 22 runs off the last over with a mixture of ramp shots and reverse sweeps to finish 61 not out in Barrow's 181-8.

Hanham made a much better fist of their reply this time, knocking them off for the loss of three wickets in 27.3 overs.