Match-winner Dan Williams hailed the character of his Clevedon side after his all-round display guided the WEPL Premier One leaders to a tense two-wicket victory over Lansdown on President’s Day at Dial Hill.
Williams took two wickets before compiling an unbeaten 38, as Clevedon reached their target of 153 with little under four overs to spare.
Matt Carpenter (3-30) and debutant Tyler Leaman (3-15) also impressed with the ball, while Louie Woodland added 30 at the top of the order – and Williams praised his teammates for ‘doing it the hard way again'.
“It was a very tense win to say the least. We seem to enjoy doing it the hard way at Clevedon this season with the bat. But it definitely shows the togetherness of the group to have with another win like this and our never say did attitude," he said.
“We have found ourselves in a bit of a tricky situation many times this season when batting, with a sudden collapse out of nowhere, but luckily one of the lower order has usually managed to help the team out which is definitely a big plus of being able to bat down to number 11.
“We all know our batting needs to improve. We need someone to step up and get a big score for the team and bat long in partnerships to wear the opposition down. We know if we get a good total on the board, we back ourselves to defend it with our bowling."
Williams entered the fray at 103-6 after Cam Harding and Connor Crane had fallen in quick succession, and admitted patience was key to his innings.
“It was great to guide the lads home on Saturday again. We only needed 50 to win when I went out to bat, with a lot of overs left, so I knew I had a bit of time to get myself in and see how the pitch was playing," he added.
“My plan was just to rotate the strike as much as possible at the start to keep the score quietly ticking over, and then to punish any deliveries with any width. The closer we got, their heads began dropping, so they tried to chase wickets and gave me more boundary balls which played into my hands.”
Williams also paid tribute to the bowling unit, led by himself and Matt Carpenter but boosted by the breakthrough of a number of youngsters this season.
“As a unit, the bowling has been incredible this year. The youngsters have all been fantastic and the maturity they have shown with the ball has been way beyond their years," he said.
“They have all produced match winning performances this season and showed no fear of playing in the top division against some brilliant batsman. Luke Pearson-Taylor and Jack Harding have bowled with good pace and control, and Max Horton has been our number one spinner throughout the season at his age which is really impressive.
"Tyler Leaman came in Saturday for his debut and his few overs probably changed the game in our favour at the end when Lansdown started to push on.”
Clevedon returned to the top of the table, two points above Potterne, who lost at Bath, and visit Bridgwater on Saturday.
Williams added: "t will be another tough game Saturday, but we are looking forward to it with a good bit of momentum from the Lansdown game.”
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